LIVELIHOODS ZONE MAP AND DESCRIPTIONS FOR CAMEROON

A REPORT OF THE FAMINE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS NETWORK (FEWS NET)

October 2019

Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer This report gives the results of the Livelihood Zoning Plus exercise conducted in Youndé September 16 to 20, 2019 by FEWS NET and partners: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) the United Nations World Food Program, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and non-government organizations.

The workshop was led by Julius Holt from the Food Economy Group and consultant to FEWS NET, with Blaise Kiénou, Remote Monitoring Coordinator, FEWS NET West Africa, and administrated by Sorelle Mbakop, Associate, East and Southern Africa, Chemonics International. We wish to acknowledge the enthusiastic cooperation of all the participants (see Annex 1), who shared their great local knowledge and expertise in full measure.

It was an honor and a signal encouragement for the workshop to be opened by His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Gabriel Mbairobe, with the UNDP Coordinator Madame Allegra Baiocchi, and Madame Vernelle Fitzpatrick, Chargée d'Affaires at the United States Embassy, and Mr. Jonathan Armah, West Africa Regional Director, Food For Peace, USAID. It was a further honor for the workshop to be closed by Mr. Paul Majarowitz, Division Director Africa 2, Food For Peace, USAID, with M. Issa Bitang, Food For Peace Officer Cameroon, USAID. Special thanks must go to the Coordinator of the National Program for Surveillance and Reinforcement of Food Security (PNVRSA/MINADER) Madame Nkodo Ngono MJ épse Atanga, whose interest and active support were fundamental to the establishment of the workshop and to its success.

This report was written by Julius Holt. The publication was prepared under the United States Agency for International Development Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Indefinite Quantity Contract, AID-OAA-I-12-00006, Task Order 1 (AID-OAA-TO-12-00003), TO4 (AID-OAA-TO-16-00015). The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

The publication was prepared under the United States Agency for International Development Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Indefinite Quantity Contract, AID-OAA-I-12-00006, Task Order 1 (AIDOAA-TO-12-00003), TO4 (AID-OAA- TO-16-00015). The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. About FEWS NET Created in response to the 1984 famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET provides early warning and integrated, forward- looking analysis of the many factors that contribute to food insecurity. FEWS NET aims to inform decision makers and contribute to their emergency response planning; support partners in conducting early warning analysis and forecasting; and provide technical assistance to partner-led initiatives.

To learn more about the FEWS NET project, please visit www.fews.net. Recommended Citation FEWS NET. 2019. Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions. Washington, DC: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network ii Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ...... v Introduction ...... 1 Methodology ...... 1 The National Context ...... 5 Livelihood Zone Descriptions ...... 10 RIVER LOGONE FLOOD PLAIN (CM01): cattle, goats and sheep, fishing, irrigated rice, maize, sorghum, cross-border trade ...... 11

‘DUCKS BEAK’ (CM02): cotton, pigs, poultry, cattle, rainfed sorghum, pulses...... 14

PIEDMONT (CM03): surplus off-season sorghum, market gardening, livestock, trade ...... 16

MANDARA MOUNTAINS (CM04): potatoes, onions, garlic, maize, soya, tubers, cross-border trade ...... 19

BENUE PLAIN (CM05): groundnuts, cotton, maize, irrigated rice, onions, cattle, fishing ...... 21

FARO-MAYO REY LOWLANDS (CM06): maize, yams, cotton, soya, groundnuts ...... 23

ADAMAWA HIGH PLATEAUX (CM07): cattle, maize, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, beans, honey ...... 26

TIKAR PLAIN (CM08): maize, irrigated rice, Robusta coffee, fishing, livestock ...... 28

WESTERN HIGHLANDS (CM09): maize, market gardening, beans, potatoes, egg production, tubers, Arabica coffee ...... 30

MOUNT CAMEROON FOREST (CM10): cocoa, palm oil, Robusta coffee, rubber, plantain, tubers, pepper, snails ...... 32

SANAGA-MBAM PLAIN (CM11): cocoa, plantain, pineapple, market gardening, cassava, yellow yams, smallstock, poultry ...... 34

DEGRADED FOREST OF THE CENTER-SOUTH (CM12): cocoa, plantain, pineapple, maize, cassava, market-gardening, small livestock and poultry ...... 36

DENSE FOREST OF THE SOUTH-EAST (CM13): cassava, plantain, corms, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, wild foods, small stock, poultry ...... 39

LOM-PANGAR GRASSY SAVANNAH (CM14): cattle, cassava, maize, groundnuts, fishing, artisanal mining ...... 42

COASTAL (CM15): artisanal sea-fishing, shrimps, informal cross-border trade, gnetum, palm oil, fresh and processed cassava, coconuts ...... 45

WESTERN CROSS-BORDER TRADE (CM16): tapioca, palm oil, tomatoes, rice, cocoa, cattle, gnétum leaves and other wild forest products ...... 48

Annex 1. Workshop Participants ...... 50 Annex 2. Administrative Units and Population by Livelihood Zone ...... 51 Annex 3. Comparing Cameroon's livelihood zones with those across the borders of neighboring countries ...... 61

Famine Early Warning Systems Network iii Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Maps Map 1: Cameroon Livelihood Zones (2019) ...... 10 Map 1. Nigeria Livelihood Zones (2018) ...... 63 Map 2. Central Africa Republic Livelihood Zones (2012) ...... 64 Map 3. Chad Livelihood Zones (2011) ...... 64

Figures Figure 1: The base-map ...... 2 Figure 2: The first sketch of zones ...... 3 Figure 3: Reviewing the refined zone outlines ...... 3 Figure 4: Refined zone outlines by working groups ...... 4 Figure 5: Draft zone names ...... 4 Figure 6: Fair-copy consolidated map of national livelihood zones ...... 4 Figure 7: Topography of Cameroon ...... 5 Figure 8: Climatic divisions, isohyets and patterns of precipitation ...... 5 Figure 9: Agro-ecological zones ...... 6 Figure 10: Main rivers of Cameroon ...... 6 Figure 11: Population density ...... 7 Figure 12: The pattern of forest degradation ...... 7 Table 1. Recent events affecting food security and livelihoods ...... 9 Figure 13. Seasonal Calendar (CM01) ...... 12 Figure 14. Consumption Calendar for Poor Households (CM01) ...... 13 Figure 15. Seasonal Calendar (CM02) ...... 15 Figure 16. Consumption Calendar (CM02) ...... 15 Figure 17. Seasonal Calendar (CM03) ...... 17 Figure 18. Consumption Calendar (CM03) ...... 18 Figure 19. Seasonal Calendar (CM04) ...... 20 Figure 20. Consumption Calendar (CM04) ...... 20 Figure 21. Seasonal Calendar (CM05) ...... 22 Figure 22. Consumption Calendar (CM05) ...... 22 Figure 23. Seasonal Calendar (CM06) ...... 24 Figure 24. Consumption Calendar (CM06) ...... 25 Figure 25. Seasonal Calendar (CM07) ...... 27 Figure 26. Consumption Calendar (CM07) ...... 27 Figure 27. Seasonal Calendar (CM08) ...... 29 Figure 28. Consumption Calendar (CM08) ...... 29 Figure 29. Seasonal Calendar (CM09) ...... 31 Figure 30. Consumption Calendar (CM09) ...... 31 Figure 31. Seasonal Calendar (CM10) ...... 33 Figure 32. Consumption Calendar (CM10) ...... 33 Figure 33. Seasonal Calendar (CM11) ...... 35 Figure 34. Consumption Calendar (CM11) ...... 35 Figure 35. Seasonal Calendar (CM12) ...... 37 Figure 36. Consumption Calendar (CM12) ...... 38 Figure 37. Seasonal Calendar (CM13) ...... 40 Figure 38. Consumption Calendar (CM13) ...... 41 Figure 39. Seasonal Calendar (CM14) ...... 43 Figure 40. Consumption Calendar (CM14) ...... 44 Figure 41. Seasonal Calendar (CM15) ...... 46 Figure 42. Consumption Calendar (CM15) ...... 47 Figure 43. Seasonal Calendar (CM16) ...... 49 Figure 44. Consumption Calendar (CM16) ...... 49

Famine Early Warning Systems Network iv Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Acronyms and Abbreviations FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FEG Food Economy Group

FEWS NET Famine Early Warning Systems Network

G Gathering

HEA Household Economy Analysis IDP Internally Displaced People

IK In Kind IPC Integrated Food Security Phase Classification km kilometers

masl meters above sea level MINADER Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

mm millimeters MP Market Purchase

OP Own production

USG United States Government

Famine Early Warning Systems Network v Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 Introduction This exercise aimed to identify livelihood patterns as a starting point for early-warning assessments in Cameroon. The Livelihoods Zoning activity was designed to establish food-security reference points to help the judgement of whether events reported at any given time justify more in-depth assessment. Livelihood zone maps and descriptions form part of the knowledge base for FEWS NET’s food security monitoring activities. These tools, however, are not designed as a comprehensive analysis of food security, which must be achieved inter alia with baseline field study of the livelihoods in the zones identified. The map of livelihood zones together with their descriptions, provided at the end of in this report, do offer a geographic framework for interpreting existing monitoring data on production, prices, and other indicators to identify potential effects of shocks. Rapid assessment teams may wish to use the zoning as a basis for sampling.

Rural livelihoods are a long-term adaptation to natural resources within the local and national economic, social and political context. Over decades they respond to fundamental shifts in that context, of which the growing urban sector and its market demand have been a prime example, and climate change may become another. Shorter term events, even severe drought or flooding bring destruction of crops and livestock and/or property, and acute impoverishment. But they have not usually been seen to change fundamentally the livelihoods for the great majority of rural people: they do not change the underlying context of livelihoods. Most people resume their customary economic activities – their household economy – with sometimes surprising speed, albeit with the need to build up again their lost wealth. Indeed, they have no choice if they are to remain in the rural context. A durable mapping of rural livelihoods must be a medium-term statement, to be revisited periodically but not changed in the short term. In Cameroon today there is are ongoing problems of Boko Haram attacks in the north, and of secessionism in the west that has caused substantial civil insecurity, population displacement and economic disruption. But while the short-term effects are only too clear, it is not possible to gauge longer-term effects, as these will depend on the duration of the problems and whether they cause permanent shifts in local economies. For the present livelihoods zoning exercise, therefore, in relation to the affected areas what has been sought is a representation of the fundamentals of different livelihoods as they were up to the events mentioned, i.e. up to a few years ago.

On the other hand, it is not possible to quite ignore the acute, recent problems, and these are signaled among the hazards noted in the livelihood descriptions that form the body of this report. At the same time, from the information given by participants in the workshop we are able to offer in the following table a summary timeline of hazard events over five years. Methodology Household Economy Analysis (HEA) is a framework for analyzing the ways in which households at varying levels of wealth normally operate their livelihoods, and the likely effect of a given event on that livelihood. HEA makes use of an array of information sourced at different levels, central to which is local knowledge and detailed field information taken on household economy at the village level, but also using reference data including the national population census, official crop production estimates, and price monitoring of markets, and finally information on current events likely to affect production, income and expenditure.

The first step – the passport to rural livelihoods analysis – is to determine livelihood zones as the basis for filtering reference information, and positioning baseline fieldwork and analysis geographically, and for subsequent predictive work on the effect of events (Outcome Analysis). A livelihood zone is a geographical area in which most households share the same ecology, natural resources and general economic environment, and therefore engage in the same patterns of production and the same possibilities for cash income (while actual cash income is realized according to household assets, composition and other elements that determine relative wealth). This means that if one were to move from one livelihood zone to the next, one would expect to see different patterns of production, income and consumption, and possibly different coping strategies in response to shocks. The national zoning exercise that this report describes defined 16 such rural livelihood zones in Cameroon.1

1 Information on the HEA methodology, including the specifics on how a zoning is conducted, can be found in the HEA Practitioners Guide available here. Information related to FEWS NET and its use of the HEA methodology can be found at Famine Early Warning Systems Network 1 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

The national livelihoods zoning workshop was held at the Hilton Hotel, Yaoundé, September 16-20, with 32 participants as key informants from MINADER and UN and NGO partners (see annex 1).

The steps taken for this exercise were as follows:

1. A preliminary search for relevant literature and Figure 1: The base-map reference data, and especially for mapped information, was made by FEWS NET in preparation for the exercise, and participants were asked to bring local documentation to the workshop. 2. A basemap of the country was designed for use in the workshop. This was the template for the initial sketching by participants of their suggestions for livelihood zones, and for their refinement and finalization of the national livelihood zones map. The base-map showed a topological background on which were put the administrative boundaries down to commune/arrondissement level, (with number codes for identification of their names against an excel sheet; and main rivers, main roads, and main towns (see Figure 1). In addition, thematic maps on rainfall, agro-ecology, population density etc. were reproduced for reference. 3. The participants were first introduced to FEWS NET as an organization. Then they were given an introductory presentation on livelihoods and Household Economy Analysis (HEA). This was followed by a presentation on the methodology of livelihoods zoning and an overview of what would be done in the workshop – the practical steps

leading to the finalization of a national livelihood Source: FEWS NET. zones map. There followed a review of the available reference data and the reference maps on show. 4. The participants in plenary were then asked to begin sketching their first suggestions for livelihoods zones on the base-map. Individual participants proposed a zone, which was discussed, and justified by lists of products and activities associated with the zone. The result after some five hours of iterative work was a rough sketch map on which all agreed, showing 16 numbered zones (see Figure 2). 5. The next step was to refine the shape of the livelihood zones. For this the participants split up into five working groups, identified mainly by regions matching the livelihood zones, using copies of the base map. The task was to identify precise boundaries for the zones, following arrondissement boundaries as far as possible except where this would significantly distort the shape of livelihood zones. On the other hand, the participants were encouraged to think beyond department and region boundaries, so that zones would cross both according to reality. In this process they referred to secondary data, especially information and

http://www.fews.net/1

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 2 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

maps from their regions2. Different working groups had to consult each other to agree on the boundaries where a zone crossed regional lines and so fell between the two groups. The final set of maps was reviewed in plenary and one or two final adjustments were made (see Figures 3 and 4). 6. The working groups were then asked to organize the provided excel file to show which regions, departments and arrondissements were partly or wholly contained within each livelihood zone. This was subsequently consolidated into a single file (see Annex 2). 7. A plenary session was held to formally name the 16 zones, reflecting their essential characteristics (see Figure 5). The final national l livelihood zones map was then drawn by the facilitator in fair copy, using the refined maps from each working group (Figure 6). This map was subsequently digitized at FEWS NET Washington.

The next task in the workshop was for working groups to fill in a livelihood description form for each zone in order to state its particular character – why it was deemed different from another zone – and to offer information on the agro-ecology and climate; on land holdings and other assets; on crop and livestock production, foods consumed, crops and livestock sold (differentiating for these elements between poorer and wealthier households). Information was also given on the main markets used by the zone's inhabitants and the destination of commodities traded out of the zone. Further information was established on hazards to crop and livestock production faced in the zone, and a timeline was made of events in the last five years affecting food security.

Participants were finally asked to construct seasonal activity calendars related to production and marketing, the lean season and hazards, and calendars of poorer households' access to food and income, and the moments in the year of major household expenditure. The information in the description forms is summarized in the narratives for each livelihood zone which are offered later in this report, accompanied by the calendars.

Figure 2: The first sketch of zones Figure 3: Reviewing the refined zone outlines

Source: FEWS NET. Source: FEWS NET.

2 Particular reference was made to volumes of the Etudes socio-économiques régionales au Cameroun published by UNDP from 2000.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 3 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 4: Refined zone outlines by working groups

Source: FEWS NET. Source: FEWS NET.

Figure 5: Draft zone names Figure 6: Fair-copy consolidated map of national livelihood zones

Source: FEWS NET. Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 4 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 The National Context Cameroon is a land of contrasts. The clearest differences are in ecology, and we would expect these to be strongly reflected in a zoning of rural livelihoods, at least in terms of primary food and cash crop production. Other contrasts are less obvious, having to do with rural population densities, the urban sector, and the related geography of main market centers. And there is one market 'center' that is external to the country - Nigeria - which strongly influences parts of Cameroon's rural economy.

The country's ecologies range from sudano-sahelian in the far north to sub-equatorial rainforest in the far south, via Guinean wooded and grassy savannahs high and low in the center, and mountain, highland and coastal ecologies in the west (Figures 7 and 9). In a general fashion, precipitation increases from around 400 mm per annum at the northernmost point to up to some 2000 mm in the far south, encompassing a transition from unimodal to bimodal rainfall patterns. However, it is towards the west that the highest levels of precipitation occur, mainly in a unimodal or continuous regime, from 2500+ in the northwest to 5000+ mm in the southwest and 7000+ at parts of the coast and its immediate hinterland (Figure 8). Again, in a general fashion, food crop types change from cereals in the north, mainly sorghum and maize, to yams and cassava in the center, but still with substantial maize, to increasing dependence on cassava as well as plantain towards the south and west, again with the ubiquitous maize. But there are also many niche areas and products, as well as fish from the major rivers (Figure 10), from lakes and barrages, and from the sea. Dried and smoked fish reach markets far away from the points of origin.

Figure 7: Topography of Cameroon Figure 8: Climatic divisions, isohyets and patterns of precipitation

Source: Wikimedia. Source : Atlas de l'Afrique – Cameroun. Les Editions J.A. (Jeune Afrique) 2011.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 5 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 9: Agro-ecological zones Figure 10: Main rivers of Cameroon

Source: Institute for Agricultural Research For Development Source: worldmaps.com.

Zone CM01 – River Logone Flood Plain, and CM02 – 'Ducks Beak', lie within the Chad Basin, with annual flooding in CM01 and many swampy areas in CM02, making for rich pastures and moist soils as waters recede, and so for large numbers of cattle as well as substantial, off-season (dry season) sorghum cultivation and irrigated rice, with fishing another valuable resource. But just next door, CM03 – Piedmont is the champion of off-season sorghum production for a different reason: it is the run-off of the rainfall on the Mandara Mountains in the west that provides the moisture for this and substantial market gardening and orchards. The Mandara Mountains (zone CM04) themselves provide a different niche area, where Irish potatoes, the signature highland crop, predominate, along with onions and garlic, also highly marketable. It is a testament to the high productivity of these zones, and to the value of their products within Cameroon and in markets across the frontiers, that the Extême Nord region, so far from the economic centers and bigger cities in the south-center and west of the country, is one of the most densely-populated areas of the country (Figure 11).

The extensive, mainly savannah areas of the middle of the country are moderately to sparsely populated but have many different features. The slightly elevated zone CM05 – Benue Plain, still in the sudanien ecology, is the most highly populated of the savannahs It is a prime producer of cotton and groundnuts, while its major production of maize has recently been threatened by market competition from a zone of similar ecology across the border in Nigeria. To the east and south, in zone CM06 – Faro-Mayo Rey Lowlands, we enter a latitude and ecology where yams begin to make their appearance beside maize, both produced in enough abundance to help fill the big town markets of Garoua and Maroua to the north. To the south, yet another kind of savannah is represented by zone CM07 – Adamawa High Plateau, where now cassava joins maize and yams as a staple, but which also offers a favorable environment for cattle, adding substantially to the incomes of the wealthier half of villagers. The lower- lying Lom-Pangar Grassy Savannah zone (CM14) to the east and south offers at least as good an environment for cattle, but otherwise suffers from having no substantial cash crop, at the same time being relatively isolated from market centers to the west which might encourage greater production of its food crops., whether cassava or maize. The mainly equally low-lying and sparsely populated central Sanaga-Mbam Plain (CM11) has more going for it in market terms, with the demand of the capital city Yaoundé beckoning at its southern border (near which the population is denser). Here we see some transition to southern cash crops such as cocoa and pineapple, and plantain first appears here as one of the staples.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 6 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

We now enter the vast forest region of the south. This is Figure 11: Population density divided into two parts, to reflect something that is clear from the population density map Figure 11: the western part (zone CM12) is three or four times more densely populated than the eastern part, and this is reflected in the considerable degradation of forest – i.e. long-term and presumably progressive deforestation and establishment of cultivated land and settlements, in a pattern that can be seen in Figure 12, which is a fusion of remote sensing information. The key is proximity not only to the capital city, Yaoundé, but to the main highway east towards Bertoua and west towards the coastal economy – Kribi and the dominant city of Douala. Intensified market gardening and pineapple cultivation seem to be signs of easy access to urban markets, and there is also the advantage of cross-border trade with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. But otherwise, zone CM12 shares several typical products of rainforest and latitude with zone CM13 – Dense Forest of the South-East: cassava and plantain as the main staples, cocoa as the main cash crop, and small livestock rather than any cattle. But in the dense forest it is also wild products that come to the fore as a fundamental part of livelihoods – ie. for sale as well as for home consumption, from gnétum leaves and mushrooms and fruits and honey to edible caterpillars and snails and game. In this zone there is also Robusta coffee cultivation and palm oil extraction, and fishing on the Dja and Boumba rivers and their network of tributaries, and a trade in onions reaching far south across the Congo border to Brazzaville. Source: FEWS NET. Figure 12: The pattern of forest degradation The Maritime zone CM15 contains not only the coastal strip with its beaches and mangroves, but also a hinterland belt of forest a few kilometers in depth as used by the zone's villagers. The overwhelming preoccupation is sea fishing of shallower waters, and as with river and lake fishing around the country, the drying and smoking of the fish allows this otherwise highly perishable product to be traded far inland as well as to the dominant market of Douala, the second city of the country that divides the zone north/south. In the north part here is intensive trade with Nigeria, including the forest gnétum leaves and processed cassava in the form of tapioca.

Finally, we arrive in western Cameroon. First, an extensive zone that continues from the southern forest, and inland from the immediate coastal hinterland and from the highest mountain in this region of Africa, giving the zone its name: CM10 – Mount Cameroon Forest. The typically sparsely populated dense forest, with its wild products and cocoa and palm oil – and pepper spice and snails cultivation as specialties – is cut through by a corridor of higher population Source: Space Intelligence, 2018 seen in Figure 11 and quite clearly associated with the main road connection between the crowded north-west highlands and Douala. To the north-east there is a wide strip of Famine Early Warning Systems Network 7 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 territory behind the frontier with Nigeria that is defined by proximity with that country and by its relative economic isolation from the rest of Cameroon: CM16 – Western Cross-Border Trade. A zone with a good deal of highland forest as well as some savannah lowland, it depends to a major extent on the value added by the huge Nigerian market to its products: processed cassava, palm oil, vegetables, cocoa, gnétum leaves, cattle. Adjoining this zone in the north is zone CM08 – Tikar Plain, mainly a plateau lying east of the northwest highlands, with a relatively sparse population, but far more dense in the south-eastern Ngo-Ketunjia department, around Ndop town, where substantial market gardening is added to the zone's general and substantial production of maize, irrigated rice and Robusta coffee, while the pastures of the plain attract high, seasonal in-migration from the north of cattle herds brought for grazing on the generous dry-season pastures. Lastly, but very far from least in economic terms, we come to zone CM09 – Western Highlands, home to the country's single really extensive highland, including mountains, as well as its most dense rural population. Unlike the rural populations drawn to the vicinities of the country's two premier cities, Yaoundé as the capital and Douala as the international port and commercial center, the density of the population in this zone is not due to its big towns of Bamenda and Bafoussam. Rather, these towns are the product of the high economic activity of the dense rural population. Here we see intensive agriculture, with maize as the main staple but the highland crops of potatoes and beans as effectively cash crops, while Arabica coffee is the dominant cash crop proper, and there is also much market gardening. In addition, while substantial numbers of cattle and smallstock are kept, the zone is particularly known for it poultry production and most especially for the great numbers of eggs it produces and exports.

This brief summary of the rationale for the identification 16 rural livelihood zones for Cameroon is a prelude to the descriptions that follow. Those in turn are a summary of information provided by the workshop participants, from their expert knowledge of their regions as well as formal documentation. As such, the quantification offered for land and livestock holdings must be taken only as indicative estimates, included to mark differences between poorer and wealthier rural households. More searching information on this topic awaits baseline field studies of household economy in the different livelihood zones.

Having pointed to the differences between the zones around the country, one or two final observations might also be made about features and conditions common to most or all zones. A first point is that the country's rural economy is highly monetized in these modern times, so that the most remote household in the far northern flood plain or in the far south-eastern dense forest depends for its livelihood to a significant extent on selling crops, and/or livestock, fish, labor, or minerals dug up. And this applies at least as much to poorer households as to wealthier ones. One corollary is that proximity to a dependable motor road, where trade and traders pass most freely, adds substantial value to work, and even in some otherwise sparsely-populate zones there is a tendency for people to congregate along roads, which are in fact designed to link towns, starting with the two big cities of Yaoundé and Douala. By the same token, isolation from market centers takes a toll on the value of produce and on the incentives for maximizing production. And isolation can begin just twenty kilometers away from a good motor road if your locality is served only by an earth road that is impassable for several months of the year.

A second common feature, linked to the first, is that Nigeria, across the western frontier with its 200+ million people half of whom live in towns great and small, presents an enormous market for Cameroon's products. Half of the livelihood zones, from far north to far south-west, have a border with Nigeria, and the products of several more zones, including notably livestock, also land up in Nigeria. We mention Nigeria in the zone descriptions, but it is possible that we have underestimated the reach into Cameroon of Nigeria's market demand - if not also of trade the other way: we do note a recent reverse in the flow of maize across the frontier, with Nigerian maize now coming into north Cameroon, bringing down prices and causing a big problem for local maize producers. We also note the informal trade in Nigerian refined petroleum, in the far north and along the coast and elsewhere.

A last point is that there are products and activities that are common to the majority of zones, but which are not always prominent. Some minor crops and activities may not be reported in the zone descriptions, let alone as part of a zone's title. For instance, the cutting and selling firewood must be almost ubiquitous, but it is not always mentioned. But one subject is worth signaling here. There are many quite substantial rivers around the country (and many departments are named after them) and fishing in these and in the myriad tributary rivers and streams is a

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 8 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 very widespread activity among the zones, whether mentioned or not. Smoked or dried fish is an ingredient of diets almost anywhere in the country, and fish is therefore an almost universal and important item of trade.

Table 1. Recent events affecting food security and livelihoods

Year Major events and trends 2019 CM01, CM03 and CM04 increasing Boko Haram attacks (began in 2014); CM02 flooding; CM03 fall in food crop prices linked to rise in production; CM05 armyworm infestation; CM08 Ngo-Ketunjia internal IDPs and influx of IDPs from North West-> food price hikes; CM09 massive displacement into here of North- West and South-West people; CM10 civil insecurity, swine fever; CM11 late onset of rains; CM14 armyworm infestation; CM15 every year local flooding, pressure on mangroves from firewood cutting.

2018 CM01 intensified Boko Haram attacks, but excellent harvest; CM02 rise in African swine fever that began in 2013; CM03 hike in food production leads to drop in producer prices; CM04 pockets of drought, fall armyworm infestation; CM05 floods, armyworm infestation; CM06 elephant damage to crops, maize prices fall due to competition of Nigerian maize; CM07 rural kidnappings, people abandoning their fields; CM09 influx of IDPs from northwest and southwest, pushing food prices up; CM10 civil insecurity, 'drought'', landslides; CM12 civil strife in Equatorial Guineas closes the border for trade; CM13 army work infestation; CM14 army worm infestation.

2017 CM01 early cessation of rains; CM02 pockets of drought, hike in staple food prices; CM04 food price hike, armyworm infestation; CM06 fall in maize prices (competition from Nigerian maize); CM07 armyworm infestation; CM09 agro-industry ceases to function; CM10 avian 'flu outbreak, landslides, civil insecurity; CM14 civil insecurity; CM16 civil insecurity.

2016 CM01 & CM02 pockets of drought; CM03 serious rain failure hits crops; CM05 armyworm infestation, food price hike; CM06 flooding; CM08 armyworm infestation; CM09 insurgency destroys assets and food stocks, kills/takes livestock; avian 'flu outbreak; CM10 avian 'flu outbreak, African swine fever; CM12 railway accident severely disrupts trade; CM14 armyworm infestation.

2015 CM01 widespread crop damage by elephants; CM02 pockets of drought; CM04 poor agricultural production; CM05 flooding, armyworm infestation; armyworm infestation, hike in cost of agricultural inputs; CM09 armyworm infestation; CM10 outbreak of African swine fever; CM13 and CM14 massive influx of refugees from CAR (since 2013); CM16 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria closes the border.

Note to the Reader: Every year in the north, center and west there is conflict between farmers and herders due to damage by cattle straying onto fields with standing crops. This is due to a general dry-season migration of cattle herds from the north to use pastures in the greener ecologies further south. These may be the cattle of resident Cameroonian herders or those of herders coming in from Chad or Nigeria. There is also some movement of herds within zones to use areas of favorable pasture.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 9 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 Livelihood Zone Descriptions Map 1: Cameroon Livelihood Zones (2019)

Source: FEWS NET.

Note to the Reader: In the side-tables accompanying the narrative, an indication is given of the main foods consumed and the main source of a given food during the year, especially whether from own production (OP) of from market purchase (MP). The comparison is made between poorer and wealthier rural households, partly to see if they consume different foods (e.g. the wealthier may afford to purchase rice, which they do not grow), and partly to see how self-sufficient people are, i.e. how far they can rely on their own production for their staple food needs. As a rule of thumb, one would naturally expect wealthier farmers, with more land and therefore production, to be more self-sufficient than poorer people. But occasionally the information is counter-intuitive: for instance, poorer households may be self-sufficient in the main staple (OP) while wealthier households may show OP/MP, meaning that unlike the poor, they rely on purchase for part of the year. There are two reasons suggested why this may be the case: the wealthier farmers may prefer to invest more effort in a cash crop, or in cattle raising, so that they may not grow enough of the staple to fill the year's consumption, but they calculate that the extra profit from the cash crop or cattle will well exceed the cost of buying extra staple food. Or otherwise, wealthier farmers may actually produce a surplus of the staple, but they also engage in general trading or other activities, and they tend to capitalize these activities by selling off most of their staple crop soon after harvest, again calculating that the profit from enhanced trading etc. will well exceed the cost of purchase of extra staple food. Full information on such strategies will only emerge from detailed field study of how people operate their livelihoods.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 10 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

RIVER LOGONE FLOOD PLAIN (CM01): cattle, goats and sheep, fishing, irrigated rice, maize, sorghum, cross-border trade Regions and departments involved: Extrême-Nord – Logone et Chari, Mayo Danay Summary Main productive assets Located in the sahelian ecological band, this Poor Better-off northernmost area extends north from around Land (0-0.5 ha) Land (2-5 ha) Maga to the shore of what remains of Lake Chad. Cattle (5-25) Sheep/goats (1-2) The flood plain, of about 8000 km2 in the year Sheep/goats (10-30) Poultry 2000, is part of the vast 'Chadian basin' across Poultry Fishing rod & net several nations, and is bordered to the east by the Agricultural hand tools Equids (2-5) Dugout canoe and fishing Logone River, a tributary of the Chari River, which rods/nets it joins at Kousseri/N'Djamena, so that the eastern Cart boundary of the zone is marked by a continuous Plow river. From 1970 for at least 30 years, the plain Main foods consumed and sources (called in the local Arabic 'Yaéré' – 'periodically Poor Better-off flooded plain') suffered a 60% reduction in flood waters. Sorghum (OP/IK) Rice (MP/OP) Maize (MP/OP) Maize (MP) The flooding gives the area two distinct advantages Cowpeas (OP/MP) Cowpeas (OP/MP) once the water withdraws after the rains: rich Fish (OP) Fish (MP/OP) pastures, and moist, fertile clay and silt soils that OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment support a main, dry-season crop of sorghum, as for labor well as maize and market garden produce. As Main income sources regards pastures, such increased flooding as has Poor Better-off been induced recently encourages the return of the Fish sales Livestock sales proteinous grasses Vetiveria nigrita and Charcoal sales Commerce Echinochloa pyamidalis, replacing less valuable Agricultural labor Crop sales woody species such as Sorghum arundinaceum.3 Basket making Fish sales The 400-600 mm of annual rainfall is sufficient to Main markets allow the production of rainfed sorghum and Internal to the zone: Mada, Pousse, Maltam, Kousseri, maize, as well as cowpeas and rainfed rice. At the Makany, Logone Birni same time, there is significant irrigated rice External to the zone: Maroua production, with two harvests in particularly Main hazards and approximate frequency favorable localities. =Agro-pastoral conflict (herds damaging crops) This is a frontier zone par excellence, with the Crop trampling by elephants/hippos border markets of Nigeria and Chad accessible to Granivorous birds (seasonal) people in most of the area to trade their livestock, Boko Haram attacks (continuous/rainy season) crops and fish, as well as other commodities Flooding (seasonal) (including the informal trade in Nigerian petrol). Irregular rainfall (3-5 years) Kousseri, on the border a few kilometers from the Chadian capital N'Djanema, is one of the country's bigger towns. The rice produced in the zone is almost entirely marketed in Nigeria and to a small extent in Chad, rather than consumed at home; there is also the sale of maize by producers of a small surplus, the cowpeas in particular sold in Nigeria. Onions are the most important market gardening crop, highly demanded by the N'Djamena market, while okra, chili and watermelon are also sold. But for the poorer households beside or near to the Logone/Chari river and tributaries, it is fishing that tends to be the main

3 La plaine du Yaéré dans le Nord-Cameroun – Une expérience de restauration des inondations. Daniel Sighomnou, Luc Sigha Nkamdjou et Gaston Lienou, in: Gestion integrée des ressources naturelles en zones inondables tropicales, IRD Éditions, 2002

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 11 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 source of income; those with less access to fishing engage in paid agricultural work, and they sell firewood and handicrafts, and even try to increase income-generating activities to ensure their basic subsistence. For their part, the wealthier depend more on the sale of livestock and trade than on the sale of crops. The cattle are of the Fulani zebu type and are transported by truck to the inexhaustible markets of Nigeria and Gabon, as well as to the big cities of Cameroon, Yaoundé and Douala, which are also the destination of smallstock. However, the incursions of Boko Haram have made livestock ownership particularly risky, reducing the normal, annual herd migrations to the lake area and south to Logone Birni and Zina.

A substantial part of the south-west of the zone is occupied by the Waza national park.

Figure 13. Seasonal Calendar (CM01)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 12 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 14. Consumption Calendar for Poor Households (CM01)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 13 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

‘DUCKS BEAK’ (CM02): cotton, pigs, poultry, cattle, rainfed sorghum, pulses Regions and departments involved: Extrême-Nord – Mayo Danay, Mayo Kani

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This area straddles the sudano-sahelian and wooded savannah ecological bands, with an emphasis on the Land (0-1 ha) Land (3-10 ha) latter, and also with some grassland and swamp areas. Sheep/goats (1-2) Cattle (5-25) There is a limited resource in wood, notably Balanites Poultry Sheep/goats (10-30) aegyptiaca, and there is the Kalfou forest reserve on the Fishing rod &net Pigs (0-20) Kalfou-Yagoua axis. The area is bordered to the east by Agricultural hand tools Poultry the Logone River, which also forms the border with Equids (0-3) Chad. Moderately fertile and less fertile sandy-clay soils Canoe and fishing tools are watered by 700-900 mm of annual rainfall. Cart Plow At first glance, this area does not seem to invite a Main foods consumed and sources particularly large population, yet it is one of the most Poor Better-off densely populated rural areas in the country. There does not seem to be a single reason for this, but rather Sorghum (OP/MP/IP) Sorghum (OP/MP) an ecology that supports a very diverse production of Cowpeas (OP) Maize (OP/MP) food and cash crops, livestock and fish, associated with Groundnuts (OP/MP) Cowpeas (OP/MP) an enterprising population. The area is self-sufficient Gombo & leaves (OP/GA) Groundnuts (OP/MP) rather than surplus in basic food production: rainfed OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment for labor and dry-season sorghum (in the swamp areas), Main income sources cowpeas, rainfed and irrigated rice, groundnuts, vouandzou, sesame. Apart from the staple sorghum, Poor Better-off these crops can also be considered as cash crops, to Agricultural labor Livestock sales which cotton and watermelon (a relatively new crop) Felling Crop sales are added. But in terms of income, at least for the Poultry sales wealthier villagers, livestock is just as important, Wild food sales especially cattle and smallstock. The area is one of the Basket making largest poultry producers in the country, but a large part Main markets of this production is in the hands of of specialized Internal to the zone: Yagoua, Gobo, Doukoula, chicken producers with thousands of birds, while most Molgodaye, Kaye Kaye, Dziguilao rural households keep only a modest number: but the External to the zone: Maroua, Yaoundé sheer number of households means that a good number of poultry arrives on the market from them too. Until Main hazards and approximate frequency the outbreak of swine fever in 2018, the area was a Livestock theft (seasonal) major producer of pigs - an industry that is hopefully Flooding (seasonal) regenerating. It is sometimes carried out by poor people Crop trampling by elephants, hippos (seasonal) in something akin to a sharecropping system. Fishing is Irregular rainfall (seasonal) very important for the villagers who live on or near the Bush fires (seasonal) Logone River.

The cotton is de-seeded at the Sodecoton factory in Maroua before being transported to Yaoundé and then Douala for processing into fabric or exported. The area is not well placed for trade with Nigeria, and trade with Chad is quite modest: the neighboring area in Chad is itself a substantial rice producer, while the market of the capital, N'Djamena, is quite far to the north. Overall, the flow of goods outside the area is therefore towards Maroua and southwards: rice towards Yaoundé and Douala; cowpeas towards Maroua, Yaoundé and Nigeria; groundnuts and watermelons towards Maroua. Cattle and goats and sheep are trucked to Yaoundé, Douala and Gabon, goats and sheep also to Maroua (pigs used to travel the same routes); poultry to Maroua. Basketry (especially mats) also reaches the Maroua market. There is some informal trade in Nigerian petrol. Famine Early Warning Systems Network 14 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 15. Seasonal Calendar (CM02)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 16. Consumption Calendar (CM02)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 15 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

PIEDMONT (CM03): surplus off-season sorghum, market gardening, livestock, trade Regions and departements involved: Extrême-Nord – Diamaré, Mayo Danay

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off Like its neighbor, this zone descends from sudano- sahelian ecology south into wooded savannah, with Land (0-1 ha) Land (3-10 ha) many areas of rocky outcrop in these foothills of the Sheep/goats (0-2) Cattle (5-45) Mandara Mountains. Stone and its derivatives are Poultry Sheep/goats (5-30) important commercial materials for the country's Agricultural hand tools Poultry construction industry: marble is extracted in the south Equids (1-5) of the area (the country's only source), gravel is Cart collected in the Maroua region, and sand comes from Plow the many water-courses that flow from the mountains. Main foods consumed and sources Poor Better-off And these watercourses also guarantee the moisture that resides in the hydromorphic soils, fertile or Sorghum (OP) Maize (OP/MP) moderately-fertile according to the locality, on which Maize (OP) Rice (MP) the main agricultural product of the area, dry-season Cowpeas (OP/MP) Tubers (MP) sorghum, as well as substantial market gardening Groundnuts (OP/MP) Sorghum (OP/MP) produce, are based. The sorghum is of a special type Vegetables (OP/MP) Groundnuts (OP/MP) called muskuwari, the same as the masakwa sorghum OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment for labor in the matching zone across the frontier in Nigeria. Main income sources Rainfall of 700 to 900 mm per year also allows rainfed sorghum to be grown, so that altogether area is Poor Better-off considered the northern granary. Maize, groundnuts, Crop sales Crop sales cowpeas and cotton are the other main field crops, and Agricultural labor Livestock sales the high volume of onion production offers another Firewood sales Commerce important item of trade outside the area. There are also Crushed stone sales orchards (mango, guava, lemons) and over the last 3-4 Leather products years there has developed some production of oil from Main markets the fruit and seeds of the neem tree (Azadirachta Internal to the zone: Maroua, Guider, Figuil, Bogo, indica), used in the production of cosmetics. However, Moutouroua, Kaélé the water table shows significant annual variation in the External to the zone: Yaoundé depth of accessible water, depending on the rainfall here and elsewhere that feeds it, and people have Main hazards and approximate frequency periodic problems with drinking water, human and Irregular rainfall (seasonal) animal, and with irrigation for market gardening - Agro-pastoral conflict (seasonal) especially in the Moutouroua and Kaélé areas, and most Access to drinking water (permanent) especially in the high dry season in March and April. Bush fires (every 2 years) Flooding (every 3 years) Livestock ownership is heavily skewed in favor of those Boko Haram attacks (less frequent since 2014) who specialize in it, so that even many wealthier households may raise very animals with the exception of poultry, preferring to focus their efforts on cultivation, including market gardening, and on trade, while others have a significant number of cattle (Fulani zebu type) and small stock. There is, however, a flourishing leather craft industry that has made the area famous.

Cotton is seeded in Sodecoton's factory in Maroua; and this capital of the area, the sixth largest city in the country, offers an important market for all agricultural products and livestock in the area. From there, cattle and small ruminants are trucked daily to markets in Yaoundé, Douala and Gabon. Sorghum is traded in the markets of the cities along the country's main north-south highway to the capital; onions go mainly to Yaoundé, Douala and CAR, and

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 16 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Yaoundé is also a main destination for fruit - mangoes, lemons, tomatoes. Leather goods also reached Nigeria, as well as the international market. The crucial north-south route encourages commercial activities, so that general trade is the third most important source of income for wealthier households, after crops and livestock. On the other hand, the markets in the area receive maize from the far north and the neighboring Mandara Mountains, rice imported from Douala via Yaoundé, tubers from the West and Adamaoua departments, and oranges from Nigeria.

The area enjoys social stability and, as such, has hosted significant numbers of displaced persons and refugees from Boko Haram attacks in the far north.

Figure 17. Seasonal Calendar (CM03)

Source: FEWS NET

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 17 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 18. Consumption Calendar (CM03)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 18 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

MANDARA MOUNTAINS (CM04): potatoes, onions, garlic, maize, soya, tubers, cross-border trade Regions and departements involved: Extrême-Nord – Diamaré, Mayo Sava, Mayo Tsanaga

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This volcanic mountain range, forming the western border with Nigeria, is based on degraded granite and Land (0-0.25 ha) Land (1-2 ha) partly on basalt, and rises to about 1400 meters above Poultry Cattle (1-10) sea level at the summit of Mount Opay. The main Agricultural hand tools Sheep/goats (5-10) natural vegetation is wooded savannah, denser in the Poultry rocky basins and on the lower slopes and hills on the Equids (1-5) east side. Rainfall is 800-1200 mm per year and Cart drainage, mainly to the east, is by many small rivers Plow & donkey rather than large ones. Main foods consumed and sources Poor Better-off This is one of the most densely populated areas in the country, and land holdings are small, while soils are Sorghum (OP) Maize (OP) moderately fertile to fertile. Although there some Maize (OP) Sorghum (OP) surplus in the main staple food, maize, is produced, Cowpeas (OP/MP) Groundnuts (OP) farmers tend to focus their efforts on crops with a high Groundnuts (OP/MP) Cowpeas (OP) cash value per unit area, dominated by potatoes for Soya (OP) Tubers & veg (OP) which the higher part of the zone provides a niche OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment for labor ecology. Market gardening, dominated in turn by onion Main income sources and garlic production, is another preoccupation of wealthier farmers who can afford the extra inputs Poor Better-off including labor. These are less perishable than other Crop sales Crop sales vegetables, and they are traded south to the two major Petty trade Commerce cities of Yaoundé and Douala, as well as to Gabon; and Agricultural labor Livestock sales they go even further south on the highway through the Firewood sales Republic of Congo to be sold in Brazzaville. At the same Crushed stone & sand time, neighboring Nigeria inevitably provides an sales important market for all products from this zone. Main markets Potatoes also take another, more distant route: to Internal to the zone: Mokola, Mémé, Korza N'Djamena, and through Chad to Sudan, as well as north External to the zone: Gili, Dourbé & Mogodé (border to Libya. In addition to maize, sorghum and cowpeas are markets), Yaoundé, Douala more consumed locally, while groundnuts, soya and cotton are other cash crops. But producers suffer from Main hazards and approximate frequency the problem that motor roads in the mountain areas are Boko Haram attacks (continuous since 2014) all but non-existent, while security problems further Irregular rainfall (every 2 years) hamper trade. Landslides (every 2 years) Hailstorms (seasonal) Livestock holdings are very modest in general, and any significant herd, particularly of cattle, is more the preference of some individuals than typical of even the wealthiest households. But animal droppings are a particularly valuable commodity as a fertilizer in this market gardening area. At the same time the area provides transit for large herds of cattle and goats and sheep from the far north en route to Nigeria, where they arrive at the big livestock markets to join countless other animals destined for transport to big cities in southern Nigeria. One animal product from the zone itself goes much further: donkey hides enter Nigeria but end up in China: they are used in the manufacture of soccer balls.

In this crowded zone there is a very strong propensity for the poorest to seek paid, seasonal agricultural work elsewhere: in the highly productive regions of the north and in urban centers to the south in the dry season.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 19 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 19. Seasonal Calendar (CM04)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 20. Consumption Calendar (CM04)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 20 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

BENUE PLAIN (CM05): groundnuts, cotton, maize, irrigated rice, onions, cattle, fishing Region and department involved: Nord – Bénoué

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This area is located in the sudanien belt, with rainfall at 900-1200 mm per year. It is essentially a savannah plain, Land (0.5-1 ha) Land (5-10 ha) crossed near its middle by the Benue river valley, which Cattle (0-2) Cattle (5-10) then flows into Nigeria. With its moderately fertile Sheep/goats (0-10) Sheep/goats (20-60) sandy-clay soils, and substantial landholdings among Pigs (0-5) Pigs (10-20) the wealthier, but not the poorer, households, this is Poultry Fishing tools essentially a productive zone, and its maize surplus Agricultural hand tools Cart reaches Yaoundé and Douala. On the other hand, until Fishing tools Plow recently, traders would come from Nigeria to buy maize Food processor here; but a major increase in maize production across Vehicle the border in Nigeria now means that things have Main foods consumed and sources reversed, and maize from the zone can no longer Poor Better-off compete with Nigerian maize in the market. There has Maize (OP/MP) Maize (OP) thus been a slump in local producer sales, with the Sorghum (OP/MP) Rice (OP/MP) consequence that farmers can no longer afford to buy Rice (MP/OP) fertilizers as before, and maize production itself has Groundnuts (OP) decreased. Otherwise, there is good production of both OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind rainfed and dry-season sorghum for the market as well payment for labor as for home consumption. There are also groundnuts, Main income sources while the chief cash crop is cotton, de-seeded at the Poor Better-off Sodecoton factory in Garoua (at the south end of the Non-agricultural labor Crop sales zone and the country's third largest city) before being Firewood & charcoal sales Livestock sales transported to Douala for processing into cloth. The Agricultural labor Commerce roads are generally in good condition and usable in all Livestock sales seasons. Poultry sales Like many other areas in the country, the zone has Main markets suffered from an epidemic of legionnaire caterpillars in Internal to the zone: Ngong, Adoumri (livestock), Pitoa, the last two years. The danger comes if there is a two- Garoua, Gaschiga, Nakong week cessation of rains in the first part of the season, External to the zone: Yaoundé, Douala when these leaf-eaters appear and are highly damaging to most crops, attacking especially maize and sorghum Main hazards and approximate frequency just before the flowering stage. The caterpillars can Fall armyworm (seasonal) protect themselves against ensuing rain under a hard Livestock diseases (seasonal) cover formed of their bodily exudations. Agro-pastoral conflict (seasonal) Flooding (every 3 years) Livestock production is modest, but with the value added by the huge, nearby Nigerian market, as well as the middle of Cameroon and the more distant Yaoundé and Douala markets, the yearly sale of just two or three steers by a wealthier farmer will bring in a substantial amount of cash.

The Benue river provides a local economy not typical of the zone as a whole: a great resource for fishing, which extends to the western shore of the Lagdo lake; and equally a special environment along the riverbanks for market gardening and particularly onions production.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 21 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 21. Seasonal Calendar (CM05)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 22. Consumption Calendar (CM05)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 22 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

FARO-MAYO REY LOWLANDS (CM06): maize, yams, cotton, soya, groundnuts Region and departments involved: Nord – Faro, Mayo Rey; Adamaoua – Faro et Déo, Vina

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This extensive zone straddles the transition from sudanian to guinean savannah ecology, with rainfall of Land (0.13-0.75 ha) Land (1-5 ha) 1000-1300 mm per annum. The west, center, south- Sheep/goats (2-6) Cattle (2-20) center and south-west of the zone contain some Poultry Sheep/goats (10-50) elevated areas, including the heights of Gomba, Vokre, Agricultural hand tools Poultry Wal and Ngaï, and from their drainage a series of rivers Food processor are formed including the upper reaches of the Bénué. Main foods consumed and sources On its moderately fertile sandy clay soils the zone Poor Better-off produces a substantial surplus of two crops associated Maize (OP) Maize (OP) with the two ecological zones respectively: maize and Sorghum (OP/MP) Sorghum (OP/MP) yams. At the same time, the zone hosts three major Yam (OP/MP) Rice (OP/MP) national parks (Faro, Bénoué, Bouba N'Djiddah) which Groundnuts (OP) Yam (OP) limit the cultivable land available to the moderately OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind dense population; and it has been host to refugees and payment for labor people internally displaced by conflict, putting further Main income sources pressure on land availability, to the extent that the Poor Better-off authorities have planned to open up part of the national Crop sales Crop sales parks to accommodate the need of the displaced people Livestock sales Livestock sales for cultivable land. Elephant herds coming outside the Casual labor Commerce parks are the source of frequent crop damage, as are Petty trade hippopotamus on fields cultivated in the vicinity of rivers. Another source of damage to crops comes from Main markets cattle herds on grazing migration from the north Internal to the zone: Baiboum, Madingring, Touboro, straying onto fields; this has caused conflict between Rey-Bouba, Poli, MBE farmers and herders. External to the zone: Yaoundé, Douala, Garoua, Maroua, Kousseri As part of the Nord region of the country, the zone is quite far – 600 to 800+ kilometers - from the main Main hazards and approximate frequency market centers of the country. But its surplus does help Crop trampling (seasonal) to fill the demand of cities like Bafoussam, Yaoundé and Slump in maize prices & sales (Nigerian maize in market Douala for maize, groundnuts and soya, and of Garoua last few years) and Maroua for yams, while rice, mainly grown with just Agro-pastoral conflict (seasonal) rainfall, goes to Nigeria. A lesser flow of these Fall armyworm (seasonal) commodities goes to N'Djanema and further into Chad, Flooding (every 3 years) via Kousseri. However, as in zone CM05 Benue Plain, the producer price of maize fell sharply from 2017 due to Nigerian competition in the market. Apart from surplus food crops, cotton is the main cash crop. Livestock raising is a secondary occupation here for most people, nevertheless the secondary income from cattle, goats and sheep sales is important for many households. Away from the main Garoua-Ngaoundéré highway, local trade in all commodities is hampered by the frequent impassability of secondary roads in the rainy season.

The shortage of cultivable land is particularly seen in the holdings of poorer villagers who typically cultivate less than a hectare of land, often much less. In order to make ends meet, they engage in daily paid agricultural labor, and according to locality they fish, and collect wild items, notably baobab fruit, and they hunt in forested areas, and they perform artisanal gold mining especially in the Faro and Mayo Rey areas. Keeping of beehives is a general activity of the population. Wealthier villagers engage in general commodity trading.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 23 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 23. Seasonal Calendar (CM06)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 24 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 24. Consumption Calendar (CM06)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 25 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

ADAMAWA HIGH PLATEAUX (CM07): cattle, maize, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, beans, honey Regions and departments involved: Adamaoua – Djérem, Faro et Déo, Mayo Banyo, Vina

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This is a zone of high savannah in the guinean ecology, dominated by the Adamaoua Massif. Rainfall is Land (0.15-1 ha) Land (1-3 ha) substantial at 1500-1800 mm per annum, and the sandy Cattle (0-5) Cattle (5-10) and lateritic soils are reasonably fertile. But the Sheep/goats (0-15) Sheep/goats (15-50) population is sparsely settled, and land holdings are Poultry Poultry quite modest, and the zone is not a major source of Agricultural hand tools Canoes surplus food production for the wider market of the Food processor country. But many households do produce a surplus. In Main foods consumed and sources staple food terms, we see for the first time as we Poor Better-off descend from the north a dependence on cassava, Maize (OP/MP) Maize (OP) which at least rivals yams, while maize continues as a Cassava (OP/MP) Cassava (OP) main staple. All crops are grown with the rain only, Yam (MP) Yam (MP) rather than with irrigation or flood-retreat, and market Groundnuts (OP/MP) Groundnuts (MP) gardening is not a major feature here. But in this zone, OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind all the staples, whether grain or tubers, are important payment for labor cash earners for their producers, with especially maize Main income sources going to Yaoundé, Bafoussam and Douala, cassava into Poor Better-off neighboring CAR, and yams to Yaoundé, Garoua and Crop sales Crop sales into neighboring Nigeria. However, trade is hampered Casual labor Livestock sales by then poor state of the road infrastructure, since the Petty trade Commerce majority of the population live at some distance from Livestock sales Food sales the main roads linking Ngaoundere to Meiganga and the route to the south or linking Tibati to Bafoussam in the Main markets North-West Region. Internal to the zone: Ngaoundéré, Banyo, Tibati, Tignere, Meiganga, Bankim But important as crops are, this is cattle country, where External to the zone: Garoua, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, even poorer households may keep two or three head. Douala Cattle and goats and sheep define the wealth of the better-off in the zone quite as much as their crop Main hazards and approximate frequency production, and for some, earnings from livestock sales Fall armyworm (seasonal since 2017) even outweighs that from crop sales, while for the rest Insecurity (permanent since 2018) livestock sales come a close second to the crop sales. People put a good part of their capital from all sales into running trade, and even poorer people engage in small-scale retail trade, to add to what they manage to earn from crop sales and from daily paid agricultural work. A good number of them also find work in local towns in the off- season for agriculture – Tignere, Tinati, Ngaoundere etc. or in a neighboring area, e.g. the town of Meiganga. A relatively small number migrate temporarily for work in more distant cities or in gold prospecting locations, or in areas where high agricultural activity offers employment on farms as a daily paid worker. Locally, villagers residing in the vicinity of rivers and the shores of Lake Bakaou, behind the barrage at Tibati, practice artisanal fishing, and earn money from marketing especially dried/smoked fish, which reaches the Yaoundé market among others – as does the honey produced by some proportion of households

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 26 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 25. Seasonal Calendar (CM07)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 26. Consumption Calendar (CM07)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 27 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

TIKAR PLAIN (CM08): maize, irrigated rice, Robusta coffee, fishing, livestock Regions and departments involved: Ouest – Noun; Nord-ouest – Donga Mantung

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This zone, essentially a plain across an elevated plateau north and east of the highlands of the North-West and Land (1.5-2.5 ha) Land (5-15 ha) West Regions, has a wooded savannah ecology, with Sheep/goats (0-2) Cattle (few, due to fertile sandy-clay soils and high rainfall: 1600-2000 mm Pigs (0-1) experience of theft) per annum. In general, it is relatively thinly populated, Poultry Sheep/goats (0-10) except for the Ngoketunjia department with its city of Agricultural hand tools Poultry Ndop: here the rural population reaches 150+ people Fishing tools Food processor per square kilometer. The main food crops are maize, Main foods consumed and sources beans, cassava and macabo (the corms of Xanthosoma Poor Better-off sagittifolium, otherwise called 'new cocoyam'), with Maize (OP/MP) Maize (OP) some paddy rice. Market gardening emphasises chili Rice (MP) Rice (MP) peppers and tomatoes. The zone produces a surplus of Roots & tubers (OP/MP) Roots & tubers (OP/MP) food crops, and the chief destination markets for these Plantain (OP) Plantain (OP) are the cities of Bafoussam in West Region, and Douala Groundnuts (MP/OP) Groundnuts (MP) on the Littoral. Paddy rice goes to Nigeria, while beans OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind go to Bafoussam, Douala and Yaoundé. The chief cash payment for labor crop is Robusta coffee, the beans going to Douala for Main income sources export. But the slump in international coffee prices in Poor Better-off recent years has meant that farmers have had difficulty Crop sales Crop sales in selling their harvests and have significantly Poultry sales Livestock sales disinvested in coffee production. Livestock sales Commerce While land holdings are comparatively high, livestock Fish sales Food sales holdings are generally low. But seasonally the zone receives thousands of cattle coming from the north and Main markets east for the substantial dry-season pastures on this Internal to the zone: Ndop, Foumban, Babungo, plain. As a result, cattle straying onto fields with Bankim, Babessi standing crops have perennially caused damage, External to the zone: Bamenda, Mbouda, Bafoussam, leading go conflict between farmers and herders. But Kumbo, Yaoundé, Douala more recently, political conflict in the north-west, especially in Ngoketunjia, with secessionists burning Main hazards and approximate frequency crops and houses and taking cattle has led the Crop trampling (cattle) (seasonal) displacement of people into the Tikar plain as a place of Reduction price of coffee (continuous) refuge. In particular, resident herders have left and are Anglophone socio-political crisis (since 2016) settling in the plain as their base of operation. This has

increased the dangers of crop damage and of more serious local conflict. Cattle, goats and sheep and pigs produced by the zone's residents themselves go to the markets at Bafoussam, Bamenda, Mbouela, Kumba and Douala.

People also exploit special local resources to increase their incomes. The barrages at Mapé and Bamenjin offer a resource for artisanal fishing, with dried/smoked fish reaching the Bafoussam and Bamenda markets. In Ngoketunjia there is substantial exploitation of sand resources for the construction industry, notably in Bamenda city. More generally, women in poorer households process cassava into flour for sale. However, for young people the local income-earning opportunities are limited, and many of them are thus attracted to the possibilities of work and petty trade in the neighboring, economically dynamic highland areas. They may go there during the agricultural off-season – or they may go there more permanently.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 28 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 27. Seasonal Calendar (CM08)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 28. Consumption Calendar (CM08)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 29 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

WESTERN HIGHLANDS (CM09): maize, market gardening, beans, potatoes, egg production, tubers, Arabica coffee Regions and departments involved: Nord-Ouest – Boyo, Bui, Donga Mantung, Menchum, Mezam, Momo; Ouest – Bamboutos, Haut Nkam, Hauts Plateaux, Menoua, Ndé, Noun; Sud-Ouest – Lebialem; Centre – Mbam et Inoubou; Adamaoua – Mbéré

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This is the most densely populated livelihood zone of the country, and one of its the most productive too. It Land (0.5-1 ha) Land (2-5 ha) has a topology of mountains, high hills high plateau, a Cattle (2-5) Cattle (10-50) natural vegetation of both wooded savannah and Sheep/goats (10-20) Sheep/goats (25-75) highland forest, a mix of ferralitic, lateritic and volcanic Pigs (2-10) Pigs (15-50, including soils, mainly moderately fertile, high rainfall reaching Poultry piglets) 2500 mm per annum, and moderate temperatures. The Agricultural hand tools Poultry (20-100+) zone is particularly known for its surplus maize Hired food processor production, making it something a prime source of grain Hired tractor on the markets not only of Cameroon's big cities Main foods consumed and sources (including Bamenda and Bafoussam within the zone, Poor Better-off respectively the third and fourth largest cities of the Maize (OP) Maize (MP/OP) country) but also beyond in Gabon and CAR. Beans and Rice (MP) Rice (MP) potatoes follow similar routes, also arriving in Chad. Cowpea (OP) Potatoes (MP/OP) These must all be considered not only as crops for home Potatoes (OP) Cowpea (MP/OP) consumption but as cash crops in all but name. OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind (Plantains are more a domestic crop.) To these are payment for labor added two 'proper' cash crops: Arabica coffee from Main income sources higher niche areas and cocoa from more moderate Poor Better-off elevations. Overall, poorer people tend to make most Crop sales Crop sales money from staple crop sales, while wealthier people Local non-agricultural Egg and poultry sales make most from cash crops. labor Commerce The environment is favorable for cattle and for other Petty trade livestock. The ownership of animals in terms of numbers Poultry sales is very varied even among wealthier households. This is Local agricultural labor because certain people specialize in cattle rearing, and so may own as man y as 50 head, while others may have Main markets 10 head, still representing considerable capital. Goats Internal to the zone: Bafoussam (A&B, Casablanca), are far more numerous than sheep. The political Bamenda, Mbouda, Kumbo, Foumbot, Koutaba instability in the neighboring North-West and South- External to the zone: Yaoundé, Douala West regions has led to a large number of displaced people taking refuge in the zone's rural areas, creating Main hazards and approximate frequency potential pressure on already constrained land Insecurity (permanent since 2016) availability. Herders – especially M'Bororo Fulani people Price hikes (permanent since 2016) – have also taken refuge here from conflict and cattle- Displacements (permanent since 2016) raiding. Irregular rainfall (seasonal since 2014) Livestock diseases (seasonal) The keeping of poultry is ubiquitous, but again, in the rural areas ownership is very varied, and there are people with a substantial backyard operation with hundreds of hens (setting aside the peri-urban specialists with thousands). A particular feature of poultry production here is that although of course the birds themselves are marketed for consumption, it is particularly for eggs that this zone is known: it is not only the biggest producer in the country but a source of eggs for countries around this region of Africa. Other products that reach other countries are kola nuts going to Chad, Soudan and Nigeria; avocados going Famine Early Warning Systems Network 30 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 to Gabon and CAR; honey exported via Douala to Europe; and milled Arabica coffee following the same route.

The existence of a big urban sector means that rural handicraft products - wood carvings, leather etc. - are particularly profitable. It also means that people – especially young people – commonly go from villages for temporary work in towns, as assistants in ironwork and masonry, and as motor-cycle taxi drivers, hairdressers, workers in the street food industry, and petty traders. Figure 29. Seasonal Calendar (CM09)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 30. Consumption Calendar (CM09)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 31 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

MOUNT CAMEROON FOREST (CM10): cocoa, palm oil, Robusta coffee, rubber, plantain, tubers, pepper, snails Regions and departments involved: Littoral – Moungo, Nkam, Sanaga Maritime, Wouri; Sud-Ouest – Fako, Kupe Manenguba, Lebialem, Manyo, Mémé, Ndian; Ouest – Haut Nkam; Nord-Ouest – Momo

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off The zone is named after Mount Cameroon, the highest Land (1-2 ha) Land (2-3 ha) mountain in West Africa at over 4000 meters. But this Goats (1-5) Cattle (5-10*) in fact rises from the coast at Limbe, north of Douala: as Pigs (1-3) Sheep/goats (5-10*) such it is on the edge of the zone proper, which extends Poultry Pigs (5-10) far north and east. The forest covers both high and low Agricultural hand tools Poultry terrains. Like all forest areas, this zone is sparsely Fishing equipment *Local Fulani herders own populated if we divide the overall area by the number larger herds of people; on the other hand, as in all forest areas, people tend to congregate along roads (more than in Main foods consumed and sources non-forest areas). In this case there is a sort of corridor Poor Better-off of high population in the vicinity of the Nkongsamba– Cassava (OP) Cassava (OP) Loum–Douala main road, widening to the south to Plantain (OP) Plantain (AM/OP) encompass the Kumba-Tiko road too. This might be Rice (MP) Rice (MP) considered a sub-zone, since in terms of forest Macabo (OP/MP) Macabo (OP/MP) clearance and engagement in trade its economy is Maize (OP) Maize (OP/MP) bound to differ somewhat from the rest of the forest Yam (OP) Yam (OP/MP) area, even if the basic production remains the same. OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment for labor The rainfall, unimodal in pattern, is very voluminous, Main income sources reaching over 4000 mm per annum in the hinterland to Poor Better-off the littoral. The volcanic soils are especially fertile, supporting a host of different products, mainly tubers Crop sales Cash crop sales and tree crops, with maize as a secondary crop. Grain Petty trade Commerce crops tend to need more land per food calorie produced Wild food sales Livestock sales and, perhaps, per franc earned - and in forest areas land Animal sales Food crop sales clearance and maintenance comes at a heavy labor cost. Fishing The main staple foods are plantain and sweet banana,

cassava, macabo ('new cocoyam'), and yams. The main Main markets cash-crops are cocoa, palm oil, coffee, Internal to the zone: Muea, Douala, Kumba, Penja- bananas/plantain, citrus fruits, pepper and rubber. Loum, Melong, Bangem External to the zone: Bafoussam, Boumyebel, Yaoundé Livestock are generally kept in small numbers, with wealthier people owning usually not more than a Main hazards and approximate frequency handful of cattle and fewer than a dozen goats and Insecurity (since 2017) sheep. But near to the roads and influenced by trade Fall armyworm (seasonal) dominated by the market demand of Douala, people Price hikes (seasonal) own higher numbers of animals, often sending cattle for Swine flu (seasonal) far grazing with contracted Fulani herders.

Poorer households earn most money from selling agricultural produce as well as gathered forest items: eru (Gnetum africanum), bush mangoes, njansang (Ricinodendron – used as a flavoring and thickener in cooking), bush-meat, and gravel from water-course beds. The zone is known for its farming of snails, large and small; there is also some fish-farming. Inland fishing is carried out on rivers such as the Sanaga and Wourri and on Lake Ossa. Here and there villagers possessed of chainsaws produce planks from forest trees which are informally traded to Nigeria.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 32 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 31. Seasonal Calendar (CM10)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 32. Consumption Calendar (CM10)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 33 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

SANAGA-MBAM PLAIN (CM11): cocoa, plantain, pineapple, market gardening, cassava, yellow yams, smallstock, poultry Regions and departments involved: Centre – Haut Sanaga, Lekié, Mbam et Inoubou, Mbam et Kim, Méfou et Afamba; Est – Haut Nyong, Kadey, Lom et Djérém

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This is an extensive, low-lying plain in the south-center of the country, straddling the unimodal and bimodal Land (0.3-0.5 ha) Land (5-15 ha) rainfall regimes north to south, the former peaking in Sheep/goats (3-12) Cattle (5-15) September-October, the latter adding a peak in April- Pigs (0-3) Sheep/goats (10-20) May. The zone also covers the transition from wooded Poultry Pigs (5-15) savannah to forest, the latter becoming more Agricultural hand tools Poultry pronounced towards the far south of the zone. The Main foods consumed and sources population is generally very sparse, but it is denser in Poor Better-off the vicinity of Yaoundé, the capital city that borders the Cassava (OP) Cassava (OP/MP) zone in the south. The yellow ferralitic soils are Plantain (OP) Plantain (OP/MP) moderately fertile in general, and with the substantial Macabo (OP) Macabo (OP/MP) rainfall, between 1500 and 2000 mm per annum, this is Maize (OP) an area of successful cultivation of staple foods: OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind plantain, cassava, yellow yams, macabo corms ('new payment for labor cocoyam'), and two harvests of maize per year in the bi- Main income sources modal rainfall areas. There are also two particular cash Poor Better-off crops: cocoa and pineapples. Crop sales Crop sales The economy of the zone is highly influenced by the fact Non-agricultural labor Commerce of the Yaoundé market demand, and to a lesser extent Animal sales Livestock sales in the north by the proximity of the plateau and Main markets highland regions to the west, with their dense Yaoundé, Nfoundi, Mokolo, Aban Minko'o (border populations. The demand for produce in these market), Douala population centers, especially Yaoundé, gives the incentive for farmers in the zone to both produce a Main hazards and approximate frequency surplus of staples and to invest seriously in pineapple Crop losses (cassava rot) (seasonal) production. (The cocoa is for export via Douala.) But Fall armyworm (seasonal) here we speak of middle and better-off farmers: there is a considerable skewing in landholdings between these and the poorer households, such that the former cultivate areas ten or more times larger than the fields of the poor.

The Yaoundé market adds value to all livestock owned: cattle, goats and sheep, pigs, poultry. Again, there is a big gap between poor and wealthy in this respect; but insofar as a minority of poorer manage to raise two or three cattle, the sale of a single animal in the year could mean a considerable boost to their income. Otherwise, their crops and livestock do not give poorer people enough return to live on, and they must seek other avenues of income: from selling processed cassava to selling sand from riverbeds to selling their own labor either locally or seasonally in the cities.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 34 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 33. Seasonal Calendar (CM11)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 34. Consumption Calendar (CM11)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 35 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

DEGRADED FOREST OF THE CENTER-SOUTH (CM12): cocoa, plantain, pineapple, maize, cassava, market- gardening, small livestock and poultry Regions and departments involved: Centre – Lekié, Méfou et Afamba, Méfou et Akono, Nyong et Kellé, Nyong et Mfoumou, Nyong et So'o, Haut Nyong; Sud – Dja et Lodo, Mvila, Océan, Vallée du Ntem; Littoral - Sanaga Maritime

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off The zone covers a low-lying plain in its western half in the hinterland of the coast, and a plateau in the east at Land (0.25-1 ha) Land (2-3 ha) elevations of up to 1000 meters. The rainfall regime is Goats (1-4) Cattle (5-10) bimodal in the east and unimodal in the west. In the Pigs (1-2) Goats (15-30) unimodal part the annual precipitation is very high, Poultry Pigs (5-10) from 2400 mm to 5000+ mm per annum – indeed, there Agricultural hand tools Poultry is no real dry season, rather lighter rain months versus Fishing tools Fishing equipment peak months. In the bimodal part, precipitation less Food processing Food processing overall, between 1500 and 2000 mm, with low rainfall equipment equipment in July-August and something like a 'little dry season' in Main foods consumed and sources December-January, although there are still showers. Poor Better-off The thing that unites the zone is the forest cover and its Cassava (OP) Plantain (OP/MP) degraded nature, the result of a growing population Plantain (OP) Rice (MP) progressively or repeatedly clearing land for cultivation Macabo (OP) Cassava (OP/MP) and the selected extraction of the biggest trees suitable Rice (MP) for logging, perhaps two per hectare. There is a OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind concentration of population fanning out widely from payment for labor the environs of Yaoundé, with a sparser minority of Main income sources population in the far south and east of the zone. Poor Better-off The staple crops are cassava and plantain, together with Crop sales Crop sales some maize, groundnuts, macabo corms ('new Brick making Livestock sales cocoyam'), and market garden produce. Cash crops and Mat making/crafts Commerce products (aside from sales of surplus staples) are cocoa, Wild food/game/fish sales palm oil, palm wine made from the sap tapped from palm trees, rubber and pistachios. Cultivated areas are Main markets small – typically less than a hectare for poorer Internal to the zone: Aban Minko’o (border market), households and not more than three hectares for Kyo-Ossi, Ebolowa wealthier households. The lateritic and red ferralitic External to the zone: Nfoudi, Mokolo, Vogt-Mbi, soils are generally acidic and of low fertility. The heavy Bertoua, Ouami (border market), Douala task of clearing land from the forest or from ever- encroaching vegetation, with burning of woody matter, Main hazards and approximate frequency is done mainly by men. Then it is overwhelmingly the Irregular rainfall (seasonal) women who undertake the production of food crops, Fall armyworm (seasonal) while men concentrate on cash crops and on other Political instability and market closures (2-3 times per activities, including fishing (the fish being smoked and year) sold by women), hunting, selling firewood, and brickmaking.

It is mainly women who gather seasonally from the forest: eru (the ubiquitous, edible leaves of Gnetum africanum), wild mangoes for the fruit part or the fat from the kernels, depending on the species, edible caterpillars, and wild mushrooms and other vegetal items. There is some vegetable gardening in swampy depressions in the drier months. All these items are both consumed at home and sold. Other items sold are handicrafts, especially raffia mats and basketry. Wealthier people engage in more general trade, including cross-border trade with Equatoreal Guinea. But much of the zone is far from main market centers. Apart from the main road between Yaoundé and Ebolowa and on Famine Early Warning Systems Network 36 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 to Douala via Kribi on the coast, there are few all-season roads, and the internal road network is rough for vehicles and periodically impassable after heavy rains.

Livestock are kept in small numbers: cattle are very rare, and sheep hardly kept either. Poorer people keep at most one or two goats and pigs and a few hens, as well as a handful of rabbits or cane-rats (Thryonomys swinderianus). There is some farming of snails, too. But insofar as they sell any of these, their earnings from selling bushmeat are higher. Wealthier households may one or two dozen goats and up to 10 pigs, and perhaps 20 hens. But for them, livestock sales are a very secondary part of their income. Figure 35. Seasonal Calendar (CM12)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 37 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 36. Consumption Calendar (CM12)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 38 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

DENSE FOREST OF THE SOUTH-EAST (CM13): cassava, plantain, corms, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, wild foods, small stock, poultry Region and departments involved: Est – Boumba et Ngoko, Haut Nyong, Kadey

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This is a zone of mainly lowland, dense forest in the guinean sub-equatorial ecological band. The rainfall Land (0.2-0.5 ha) Land (1-5 ha) pattern is bimodal, totaling 1500-2000 mm per annum. Sheep/goats (2-4) Sheep/goats (30-60) The area is drained by a number of rivers, the chief of Pigs (1-3) Pigs (15-30) which, the Boumba and Dja, flow into the Sangha river Poultry Poultry just across the border in the Congo republic, which in Agricultural hand tools Canoe turn flows into the great Congo river. This is perhaps the Fishing rod Fishing tools most sparsely populated zone in the country, and the Food processor zone most isolated from the main population and Main foods consumed and sources market centers in the country by distance and a severe Poor Better-off lack of all-weather road infrastructure. But even given Cassava (OP/MP) Cassava (OP/MP) that the soils are fertile and a variety of food crops are Plantain (OP/MP) Plantain (OP/MP) produced, this does not mean that the zone is self- Groundnuts (OP/MP) Macabo (OP) added contained economically: the two chief cash crops, cocoa Macabo (OP) added Game meat (OP) and Robusta coffee, do arrive at Douala for export, Game meat (OP) while cross-border trade in food crops and forest OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind products, especially with Gabon, are at least as payment for labor important as the trade within Cameroon. At the same Main income sources time, foodstuffs not produced in the zone, notably Poor Better-off imported rice, vegetable oils and flours come into the Crop sales Crop sales zone via Ebolowa and Bertoua. Agricultural labor Livestock sales The zone is self-sufficient in the cassava, plantain, maize Non-agricultural labor Food sales and macabo corms ('new cocoyam') that are the base of Animal sales household's diets. To these are added vegetables from Wild foods/game sales market gardening and gathered wild foods from the Main markets forest: gnétum leaves, wild fruits, honey, wild yams, Internal to the zone: Sangmelima, Yokadouma, mushrooms, caterpillars, snails; and small mammals Mindourou from hunting. The handful of livestock and poultry kept External to the zone: border markets, Douala by poorer households allow only very occasional consumption of home-produced meat, while the larger Main hazards and approximate frequency numbers raised by wealthier people – goats and sheep, Fall armyworm (seasonal since 2018) pigs, poultry (cattle are not kept) are more for the Kiossi border market closures (periodic political crisis in market than for home consumption. These, along with Equatorial Guinea) staple food, forest products and game go to town Influx of CAR migrants (continuous) markets within the zone, notably Sangmelima, Food price hikes (continuous) Yokadouma and Mindourou, as well as across the country's border, as noted above.

Wealthier people make most of their money from the sale of cash-crops and livestock, as well as from processed cassava sales. River fishing is also a significant activity for many, casting nets and line-fishing from their canoes; dried/smoked fish are sold in local markets. Poorer households must diversify their activities in order to make a living: beyond their own field production and the sale of crops, they engage in paid daily labor on the fields of wealthier neighbors, and they make full use of the forest bounty, including products for mat-making and basketry and wood for carving and simple furniture-making; and they do some line-fishing if they cannot afford nets, and gather gravel from river beds, and undertake artisanal mining. But with all this there is nevertheless a strong Famine Early Warning Systems Network 39 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 propensity for people to go to towns to find work, especially when not engaged in their own cultivation, and there is some degree of permanent rural exodus involving especially younger people – but that is true of most, if not all, zones in the country.

Figure 37. Seasonal Calendar (CM13)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 40 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 38. Consumption Calendar (CM13)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 41 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

LOM-PANGAR GRASSY SAVANNAH (CM14): cattle, cassava, maize, groundnuts, fishing, artisanal mining Regions and departments involved: Est – Kadey, Lom et Djérém; Adamaoua – Djérém, Mbéré

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off The southern two-thirds of this zone have a bimodal rainfall pattern, and the northern third a unimodal Land (0.2-0.5 ha) Land (1-5 ha) pattern, covering plains and a plateau topology Sheep/goats (2-4) Sheep/goats (30-60) respectively. Annual rainfall increases from north to Pigs (1-3) Pigs (15-30) south, from around 1200 mm to 2000 mm. The zone is Poultry Poultry drained by a network of rivers and streams, including Agricultural hand tools Canoe the Lom and Pangar rivers that feed into the Sanaga Fishing rod Fishing tools river to the west, and the Djerem river which feeds into Food processor Lake Mbakaou. The principal natural vegetation is grass Main foods consumed and sources species on the open savannah, with more pronounced Poor Better-off tree cover in the far south in the transition to the dense Cassava (OP/MP) Cassava (OP/MP) forest of zone CM13. Plantain (OP/MP) Plantain (OP/MP) While the other livelihood zones tend to have Groundnuts (OP/MP) Macabo (OP) added outstanding features, from floodplains in the north to Macabo (OP) added Game meat (OP) dense forest in the south and highlands in the west, the Game meat (OP) present zone is almost characterized by the lack of a OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind payment for labor theme, so to speak. Its sparse population have Main income sources moderately fertile, lateritic soils at their disposal, on which they produce food crops but no cash crop, unless Poor Better-off it is groundnuts. Cocoa production is a phenomenon of Crop sales Crop sales the far south of the zone only. The zone is isolated from Agricultural labor Livestock sales the main market centers of the country, while its long Non-agricultural labor Food sales border with the CAR promotes some cross-border Animal sales trade, but this is very small compared with the dynamic Wild foods/game sales trade between western zones and Nigeria. Main markets There is some differentiation to be observed between Internal to the zone: Sangmelima, Yokadouma, different parts of the zone. The north is where livestock Mindourou raising, especially cattle, is particularly strong, with the External to the zone: border markets, Douala bigger numbers in the hands of resident Fulani herders. Main hazards and approximate frequency The west of the zone is where surplus food tends to be Fall armyworm (seasonal since 2018) produced, although the zone is far from being a Kiossi border market closures (periodic political crisis in breadbasket. Overall it is just self-sufficient in staple Equatorial Guinea) food – cassava, maize, plantain – and the southern part Influx of CAR migrants (continuous) is most characterized by a self-contained self- Food price hikes (continuous) sufficiency. In view of the lack of a cash crop, two non- agricultural resources take on some importance. One is fishing, with dried/smoked fish as a substantial export to Yaoundé, although mining works on the Kadei river to the south have caused enough pollution to very much reduce an erstwhile major fishing resource. And it is indeed artisanal mining, for gold and diamonds, that is the other non- agricultural preoccupation of villagers in the zone. Poorer people also make money from collecting and selling firewood, hunting small game, and daily paid labor. But this last is not in great demand within the zone, field clearing, and preparation being done mainly by mutual-aid work-parties between neighbors. So, the greater part of paid daily employment is found in artisanal mining sites and in towns, mostly in Bertoua, the regional capita. Here villagers come in the agricultural off-season to take menial jobs, from portering to domestic service to driving motor-cycle taxis.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 42 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Bertoua is the single large town in the zone, strategically placed on the main, hard-top road coming south from Meiganga via Garoua Boulai and proceeding south-west to Yaoundé. This forms the trading artery of the zone, with Bertoua as the chief collection point for onward trade to Yaoundé, there being no other center of effective market demand, unless it is Meiganga for a part of the north. Figure 39. Seasonal Calendar (CM14)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 43 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 40. Consumption Calendar (CM14)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 44 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

COASTAL (CM15): artisanal sea-fishing, shrimps, informal cross-border trade, gnetum, palm oil, fresh and processed cassava, coconuts Regions and departments involved: Littoral – Wourri; Sud – Océan; Sud-Ouest – Fako, Ndian

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This zone consists of the band of ocean shore with its sand beaches and mangrove swamps, and its Land (0.1-0.5 ha) Land (0.5-1 ha) immediate hinterland of forest. The width of the zone is Sheep/goats/pigs (1-3) Sheep/goats/pigs (5-10) estimated at not more than a dozen kilometers, within Poultry Poultry which villagers are primarily occupied in the coastal Agricultural hand tools Engine boat economy. Livelihoods are dominated by fishing in the Canoe Fishing tools shallower coastal waters and the mangrove-dominated Fishing tools Food processor creeks notably in the Cameroon Estuary at Douala (the Chainsaw country's commercial center with a population on a Main foods consumed and sources scale with that of the capital, Yaoundé) and in the Poor Better-off Bakassi area leading to the border with Nigeria. A good Cassava/tapioca (MP/OP) Cassava/tapioca (MP/OP) proportion of the resident fishing population are long- Rice (MP) Rice (MP) term settlers from Nigeria and Benin and elsewhere. Gnetum (MP/GA) Fish (OP/MP) The population of the zone varies considerably in Fish (OP/MP) Gnetum (MP) density, with a particular concentration in the vicinity of OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind Douala and to some extent in the Bakassi area, but payment for labor otherwise villages and hamlets are strung out along and Main income sources behind the more than 400-kilometer-long coast. Many Poor Better-off settlements just above the beaches are adapted to tidal Artisanal fishing Semi-modern fishing flooding, with houses on stilts. Rainfall is very high Fish smoking (motor boats) ranging from 2500 mm per annum to over 4000 mm and Sale of processed cassava Cross-border trading over 7000 mm at certain points: Cape Debundscha, (tapioca) Firewood sales (cut with west of Limbe under Mount Cameroon, is reputedly the Firewood sales (cut with chainsaw) second wettest place in the world. machette) Poorer fishers operate with dugout canoes and nets of Main markets relatively modest length. Wealthier people operate Internal to the zone: Idenao, Limbé, Youpwe and boats with motors, able to take longer nets, employing Bonassama for Douala, Ekmolo-tili, Bamusso, Kribi fishing workers to deploy them. These workers, External to the zone: Douala whether from the villages or from town or beyond the zone are either paid with a share of the catch or, in a Main hazards and approximate frequency more modern way, with a daily wage. The Flooding (seasonal) overwhelming work pattern is for men to engage in the Coastal erosion (seasonal) activity of fishing and for women to be in charge of what Price hikes (continuous) happens when the catches come in: buying the fish and Oil spillages (continuous) shrimps (and other crustaceans, and octopus and other Climate changes (permanent) cephalopods) if they are not family catches, drying and Mangrove exploitation (continuous) smoking the fish, and selling fresh and processed fish as Industrial waste spillages (continuous) well as shrimps etc. directly locally or to traders.

Numbers of women also come in from beyond the zone to purchase fish and take it home for processing and sale. The great amounts of wood required for fish smoking engender an industry of wood cutting and sales, not only from the hinterland forest but from the mangrove forests too, putting pressure on this officially protected resource.

Apart from the dominant fishing economy, an important source of cash for the villagers relates to cross-border trade – especially with Nigeria but also with Equatorial Guinea in the south. The main feature is informal trade in Nigerian Famine Early Warning Systems Network 45 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 refined petrol/diesel, in which many other people join. For Nigeria there is also a considerable trade in gnétum leaves gathered from the forest, and in processed cassava in the form of tapioca, which is an occupation of women, who, depending on their economic status, use hand graters and traditional drying and pressing methods, or more modern mechanical equipment for all processes.

Much, if not most, of this cassava is bought on the market, coming from outside the zone. This brings us to a last consideration. Normally in describing a rural livelihood zone we begin with primary food and cash crop production, and livestock. In the present, special case, we end with it, not because it is entirely unimportant but because it is nevertheless a distinctly secondary part of household economy here. Not all fishing households engage in cultivation; but most do at least have a kitchen garden, if not a field, where they grow cassava and vegetables mainly for home consumption. They may also keep a handful of livestock – goats, pigs, hens. Finally, there is the collection of coconuts, for consumption and sale.

Figure 41. Seasonal Calendar (CM15)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 46 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 42. Consumption Calendar (CM15)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 47 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

WESTERN CROSS-BORDER TRADE (CM16): tapioca, palm oil, tomatoes, rice, cocoa, cattle, gnétum leaves and other wild forest products Regions and departments involved: Nord-Ouest – Menchum; Sud-Ouest - Manyu

Main productive assets Summary Poor Better-off This is the single livelihood zone that is not characterized first by a reasonably homogeneous Land (0.5-2 ha) Land (5-10 ha inc. grazing) ecology: in fact the zone consists of quite contrasting Cattle (2-5) Cattle (30-50) parts from north to south of wooded savannah and Goats (1-2) Sheep/goats (35-80) dense mountain forest, reflecting lower and higher Poultry Poultry elevations and rainfall varying from 2500 mm to 4500 Agricultural hand tools Canoe mm per annum. (The southernmost point of the zone is Fishing tools marked by the extensive Ejagham Forest Reserve). The Main foods consumed and sources rationale for distinguishing this particular zone is Poor Better-off something else: while cross-border trade is an Plantain (OP) Plantain (OP/MP) important feature of several other zones, here it is Cocoyam (OP) Yam (MP/OP) paramount. The sparsely populated zone is something Cassava (OP) Rice (MP) of an enclave, more open to Nigeria than to the rest of Rice (MP) Cassava (MP/OP) Cameroon, as it is far from major urban market centers OP = own production, MP = market purchase, GA = gathering, IK = in-kind and severely lacking in motorable roads. The single such payment for labor road, insofar as it is dependable, runs across the south Main income sources of the zone, serving the single citable local market Poor Better-off center, Eyumojock, and then running east beyond the Petty trade Commerce zone to Mamfé and to the city of Bamenda, some 200 Palm oil sales Crop sales (cocoa) km distant from Eyumojock. But the real significance of Crop sales (cocoa) the road for the zone is that it runs west to the Nigerian Wild food sales border, where a main road leads to Ikon and beyond to the markets of the densely populated and highly Main markets urbanized Nigerian south-east. Internal to the zone: Eyumojok External to the zone: Nigerian markets via Ikom, The title of the zone offers an assortment of products, Mamfé, Bamenda all of which gain particular value in relation to the demand in Nigeria. Further products can be mentioned, Main hazards and approximate frequency including maize, macabo corms ('new cocoyam'), yams, Livestock diseases (seasonal) groundnuts, tea and rice – the rainfed variety consumed Crop pests & diseases (seasonal) at home, the irrigated rice sold to Nigeria. Cassava, Flooding (seasonal) however, is hardly a staple here: rather, its value is in its Population displacement (since 2017) processing into flour (tapioca) and, inevitably, its sale to Insecurity (since 2017) Nigeria. It is possible that some of the flour is processed

from cassava traded into the zone from neighboring parts of Northwest and Southwest regions. Some of the cattle traded over the border, as well as sheep and goats, are also from neighboring zones. Other products of the zone itself are fish from the streams and rivers draining the highlands, and sand from the riverbeds.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 48 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Figure 43. Seasonal Calendar (CM16)

Source: FEWS NET. Figure 44. Consumption Calendar (CM16)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 49 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 Annex 1. Workshop Participants Surname and Forename Organization Base 1 FANMENI JOSEPH MINADER ADAMAOUA Ngaoundéré Adamaoua 2 NGUEKOUO FOYETTE CHARLES MINADER/FARO Faro Adamaoua 3 FOUEFACK RENE P.FPNVRSA/OUEST Bafoussam Ouest 4 KENMEGNE nee WEGANG D. GASPARINE MINEPIA Ouest Bafoussam Ouest 5 OWANGKAGUE JEAN FELIX MINADER DIAMARE EN Maroua Extrême-Nord 6 NYAGO DINGBA JUSTIN MINADER EN Maroua Extrême-Nord 7 ENDOM ASSENGUE SALAMON MINADER EST Bertoua Est 8 PAYANG JEREMIE MINADER EST Bertoua Est 9 ADAMOU SALI MINADER NORD Garoua Nord 10 NJINI BERLINDA MINADER NORD OUEST Bamenda Nord-Ouest 11 TSAFFO BONAS MINADER SC Yaoundé Centre 12 OUMAROU IBN EL HAMID MINEPAT- INS SC Yaoundé Centre 13 ANAKEU ETIENNE MINADER Yaoundé Centre 14 TOUNA NGONO LOUIS MARIE PNVRSA Yaoundé Centre 15 WANKO BEATRICE MINADER OUEST Bafoussam Ouest 16 KENGNE CELESTIN MINAT SC Yaoundé Centre 17 NZEGANG JEAN POMPIDOU MINEPIA EST Bertoua Est 18 KUM JUDE KAWZU MINADER SUD OUEST Buéa Sud-Ouest 19 AYUK GODFRED BATEM) MINEPIA SUD OUEST Buéa Sud-Ouest 20 TEBA ABEL KEMBA MINADER NORD OUEST Bamenda Nord-Ouest 21 TSANGUE PAUL YVES MINADER SUD Ebolowa Sud 22 KOKOUTE MINADER LITTORAL Douala Littoral 23 EYOUM MAX HERVE MINEE SC Yaoundé Centre 24 ABOGO ONDOUA ENGELBERT MINCOMMERCE Yaoundé Centre 25 ROSTAND KOUONANG FAO Yaoundé 26 JUNIOR JOSEPH ACF Yaoundé 27 EVARISTUS UZE ISOH CRS Yaoundé 28 AÏSSATOU BENESSI RIM PUI Yaoundé 29 EMILIE VAUTRAVERS SI Yaoundé 30 MOUHAMADOU BASSIROU IRC Yaoundé 31 IBRAHIMA MINKAILA DRC Yaoundé 32 NJILIE FRANCIS WFP Yaoundé

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 50 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 Annex 2. Administrative Units and Population by Livelihood Zone

CM01: RIVER LOGONE FLOOD PLAIN: cattle, goats and sheep, fishing, irrigated rice, maize, sorghum, cross-border trade Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Far North Logone et Chari Blangoua Far North Logone et Chari Darak Far North Logone et Chari Fotokol Far North Logone et Chari Goulfey 770,728 people Far North Logone et Chari Hile Alifa 58.6 people per km2 Far North Logone et Chari Kousseri

Far North Logone et Chari Logone Birni

Far North Logone et Chari Makary Far North Logone et Chari Waza Far North Logone et Chari Zina Far North Mayo Danay Maga CM02: 'DUCK'S BEAK': cotton, pigs, poultry, cattle, rainfed sorghum, pulses Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Far North Mayo Danay Datcheka Far North Mayo Danay Gobo Far North Mayo Danay Guere Far North Mayo Danay Kai Kai Far North Mayo Danay Kalfou Far North Mayo Danay Kar Hay 874,467 people Far North Mayo Danay Tchatibali 136.1 people per km2 Far North Mayo Danay Vele Far North Mayo Danay Wina Far North Mayo Danay Yagoua Far North Mayo Kani Guidiguis Far North Mayo Kani Moulvoudaye Far North Mayo Kani Porhi Far North Mayo Kani Taibong CM03: PIEDMONT: surplus off-season sorghum, market gardening, livestock, trade Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Far North Diamaré Bogo Far North Diamaré Dargala

Far North Diamaré Gazawa Far North Diamaré Maroua 1er Far North Diamaré Maroua 2e Far North Diamaré Maroua 3e Far North Diamaré Pette 1,665,637 people 2 Far North Mayo Kani Kaele 177.8 people per km

Far North Mayo Kani Mindif Far North Mayo Kani Moutourwa

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 51 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

North Mayo Louti Figuil North Mayo Louti Guider CM04: MANDARA MOUNTAINS: potatoes, onions, garlic, maize, soya, tubers, cross-border trade Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Far North Diamaré Meri Far North Diamaré Ndoukoula Far North Mayo Sava Kolofata Far North Mayo Sava Mora Far North Mayo Sava Tokombere 1,743,372 people Far North Mayo Tsanaga Bourrha 176.6 people per km2 Far North Mayo Tsanaga Hina

Far North Mayo Tsanaga Koza Far North Mayo Tsanaga Mayo Moskota Far North Mayo Tsanaga Mogode Far North Mayo Tsanaga Mokolo Far North Mayo Tsanaga Soulede Roua CM05: BENUE PLAIN: groundnuts, cotton, maize, irrigated rice, onions, cattle, fishing Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Adamaoua Faro et Déo Kontcha Adamaoua Vina Mbe Adamaoua Vina Nganha North Bénoué Bascheo North Bénoué Bibemi North Bénoué Dembo North Bénoué Demsa North Bénoué Garoua 1er North Bénoué Garoua 2e North Bénoué Garoua 3e

North Bénoué Lagdo

North Bénoué Mayo Hourna

North Bénoué Pitoa

North Bénoué Tcheboa 1,346,356 people North Bénoué Touroua 97.4 people per km2 North Faro Beka North Faro Poli North Mayo Louti Mayo Oulo North Mayo Rey Madingring North Mayo Rey Rey Bouba North Mayo Rey Tchollire North Mayo Rey Touboro CM06: FARO-MAYO REY LOWLANDS: maize, yams, cotton, soya, groundnuts Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 52 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Adamaoua Faro et Déo Kontcha Adamaoua Vina Mbe Adamaoua Vina Nganha Nord Faro Beka 800,500 people Nord Faro Poli 15.1 people per km2 Nord Mayo Rey Madingring Nord Mayo Rey Rey Bouba Nord Mayo Rey Tchollire Nord Mayo Rey CM07: ADAMAWA HIGH PLATEUX: cattle, maize, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, beans, honey Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Adamaoua Djérem Tibati Adamaoua Faro et Déo Galim Tignere Adamaoua Faro et Déo Mayo Baleo Adamaoua Faro et Déo Tignere Adamaoua Mayo Banyo Banyo Adamaoua Mayo Banyo Mayo Darle Adamaoua Vina Belel 848,512 people Adamaoua Vina Martap 21.2 people per km2 Adamaoua Vina Ngaoundere 1er Adamaoua Vina Ngaoundere 2e Adamaoua Vina Ngaoundere 3e Adamaoua Vina Nyambaka CM08: TIKAR PLAIN: maize, irrigated rice, Robusta coffee, fishing, livestock Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Adamaoua Mayo Banyo Bankim Nord-Ouest Donga Mantung Ako Nord-Ouest Donga Mantung Misaje Nord-Ouest Donga Mantung Nwa Nord-Ouest Ngo Ketunjia Balikumbat 771,959 people Nord-Ouest Ngo Ketunjia Ndop 60.5 people per km2 Ouest Noun Bangourain

Ouest Noun Foumban Ouest Noun Magba Ouest Noun Malantouen Ouest Noun Massangam Ouest Noun Njimom CM09: WESTERN HIGHLANDS: maize, market gardening, beans, potatoes, egg production, tubers, arabica coffee Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Centre Mbam et Inoubou Kon Yambetta Centre Mbam et Inoubou Makenene 3,495,771 people Centre Mbam et Inoubou Ndikinimeki 193.2 people per km2

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 53 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Centre Mbam et Inoubou Nitoukou Centre Mbam et Inoubou Kiiki Nord-Ouest Boyo Belo Nord-Ouest Boyo Bum Nord-Ouest Boyo Fundong Nord-Ouest Boyo Njinikom Nord-Ouest Bui Jakiri Nord-Ouest Bui Kumbo Nord-Ouest Bui Mbven Nord-Ouest Bui Nkum Nord-Ouest Bui Noni Nord-Ouest Bui Oku Nord-Ouest Donga Mantung Ndu Nord-Ouest Donga Mantung Nkambe Nord-Ouest Menchum Wum Nord-Ouest Mezam Bafut Nord-Ouest Mezam Bali Nord-Ouest Mezam Bamenda 1st Nord-Ouest Mezam Bamenda 2nd Nord-Ouest Mezam Bamenda 3rd Nord-Ouest Mezam Santa Nord-Ouest Mezam Tubah Nord-Ouest Momo Batibo Nord-Ouest Momo Mbengwi Nord-Ouest Momo Ngie Nord-Ouest Momo Njikwa Nord-Ouest Ngo Ketunjia Babessi Nord-Ouest Momo Widikum Ouest Bamboutos Babadjou Ouest Bamboutos Batcham Ouest Bamboutos Galim Ouest Bamboutos Mbouda Ouest Haut Nkam Bafang Ouest Haut Nkam Bakou Ouest Haut Nkam Bana Ouest Haut Nkam Bandja Ouest Haut Nkam Banka Ouest Haut Nkam Banwa Ouest Haut Nkam Kekem Ouest Hauts Plateaux Baham Ouest Hauts Plateaux Bamendjou Ouest Hauts Plateaux Bangou

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 54 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Ouest Hauts Plateaux Batie Ouest Koung Khi Bayangam Ouest Koung Khi Djebem Ouest Koung Khi Poumougne Ouest Menoua Dschang Ouest Menoua Fokoue Ouest Menoua Fongo Tongo Ouest Menoua Nkong Ni Ouest Menoua Penka Michel Ouest Menoua Santchou Ouest Mifi Bafoussam 1er Ouest Mifi Bafoussam 2e Ouest Mifi Bafoussam 3e Ouest Ndé Bangangte Ouest Ndé Bassamba Ouest Ndé Bazou Ouest Ndé Tonga Ouest Noun Foumbot Ouest Noun Kouoptamo Ouest Noun Koutaba Sud-Ouest Lebialem Alou CM10: MOUNT CAMEROON FOREST: cocoa, palm oil, Robusta coffee, rubber, plantain, tubers, pepper, snails Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Littoral Moungo Bare Bakem Littoral Moungo Dibombari Littoral Moungo Fiko Littoral Moungo Loum Littoral Moungo Manjo Littoral Moungo Mbanga Littoral Moungo Melong Littoral Moungo Mombo

Littoral Moungo Njombe Penja 1,889,366 people Littoral Moungo Nkongsamba 1er 58.5 people per km2 Littoral Moungo Nkongsamba 2e

Littoral Moungo Nkongsamba 3e Littoral Moungo Nlonako Littoral Nkam Nkondjock Littoral Nkam Nord Makombe Littoral Nkam Yabassi Littoral Nkam Yingui Littoral Sanaga Maritime Dibamba Littoral Sanaga Maritime Dizangue

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 55 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Littoral Sanaga Maritime Ngambe Littoral Sanaga Maritime Nyanon Littoral Sanaga Maritime Edea 1er Littoral Sanaga Maritime Edea 2e Littoral Sanaga Maritime Massock Songloulou Littoral Wouri Douala 3e Littoral Wouri Douala 4e Littoral Wouri Douala 5e Sud-Ouest Fako Buea Sud-Ouest Fako Muyuka Sud-Ouest Fako Tiko Sud-Ouest Kupe Manenguba Bangem Sud-Ouest Kupe Manenguba Nguti Sud-Ouest Kupe Manenguba Tombel Sud-Ouest Lebialem Fontem Sud-Ouest Lebialem Wabane Sud-Ouest Manyu Mamfe Sud-Ouest Manyu Upper Bayang Sud-Ouest Meme Konye Sud-Ouest Meme Kumba 1st Sud-Ouest Meme Kumba 2nd Sud-Ouest Meme Kumba 3rd Sud-Ouest Meme Mbonge Sud-Ouest Ndian Dikome Balue Sud-Ouest Ndian Ekondo Titi Sud-Ouest Ndian Mundemba Sud-Ouest Ndian Toko Nord-Ouest Momo Widikum Ouest Haut Nkam Kekem CM11: SANAGA-MBAM PLAIN: cocoa, plantain, pineapple, market gardening, cassava, yellow yams, smallstock, poultry Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Adamaoua Mbéré Meiganga Centre Haute Sanaga Bibey Centre Haute Sanaga Lembe Yezoum Centre Haute Sanaga Mbandjock

Centre Haute Sanaga Minta

Centre Haute Sanaga Nanga Eboko

Centre Haute Sanaga Nkoteng

Centre Haute Sanaga Nsem Centre Lekié Batchenga Centre Lekié Ebebda Centre Lekié Elig Mfomo

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 56 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Centre Lekié Monatele Centre Lekié Saa 1,067,595 people 2 Centre Mbam et Inoubou Bafia 18.7 people per km

Centre Mbam et Inoubou Bokito Centre Mbam et Inoubou Deuk Centre Mbam et Inoubou Ombessa Centre Mbam et Inoubou Kiiki Centre Mbam et Kim Mbangassina Centre Mbam et Kim Ngambe Tikar Centre Mbam et Kim Ngoro Centre Mbam et Kim Ntui Centre Mbam et Kim Yoko Centre Mefou et Afamba Afanloum Centre Mefou et Afamba Assamba Centre Mefou et Afamba Awae Centre Mefou et Afamba Edzendouan Centre Mefou et Afamba Esse Centre Nyong et Mfoumou Ayos Centre Nyong et Mfoumou Mengang Est Haut Nyong Dimako Est Haut Nyong Doume Est Haut Nyong Nguelemendouka Est Kadey Ndem Nam Est Lom et Djérem Belabo Est Lom et Djérem Bertoua 1er Est Lom et Djérem Bertoua 2e Est Lom et Djérem Diang CM12: DEGRADED FOREST OF THE CENTER-SOUTH: cocoa, plantain, pineapple, maize, cassava, market-gardening, small livestock and poultry Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Centre Lekié Evodoula

Centre Mefou et Afamba Nkolafamba

Centre Mefou et Akono Akono

Centre Mefou et Akono Bikok Centre Mefou et Akono Ngoumou Centre Nyong et Kellé Biyouha Centre Nyong et Kellé Bondjock Centre Nyong et Kellé Bot Makak Centre Nyong et Kellé Dibang Centre Nyong et Kellé Eseka 1,247,170 people Centre Nyong et Kellé Makak 18.7 people per km2 Centre Nyong et Kellé Matomb

Centre Nyong et Kellé Messondo Famine Early Warning Systems Network 57 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Centre Nyong et Kellé Ngog Mapubi Centre Nyong et Kellé Nguibassal Centre Nyong et Mfoumou Akonolinga Centre Nyong et Mfoumou Endom Centre Nyong et Mfoumou Nyakokombo Centre Nyong et So'o Akoeman Centre Nyong et So'o Dzeng Centre Nyong et So'o Mbalmayo Centre Nyong et So'o Mengueme Centre Nyong et So'o Ngomedzap Centre Nyong et So'o Nkolmetet Est Haut Nyong Abong Mbang Est Haut Nyong Bebend Est Haut Nyong Mboanz Est Haut Nyong Mboma Est Haut Nyong Messamena Littoral Sanaga Maritime Ndom Littoral Sanaga Maritime Ngwei Littoral Sanaga Maritime Pouma Littoral Sanaga Maritime Edea 1er Littoral Sanaga Maritime Edea 2e Littoral Sanaga Maritime Massock Songloulou Sud Dja et Lobo Meyomessala Sud Dja et Lobo Zoetele Sud Mvila Biwong Bane Sud Mvila Ebolowa 1er Sud Mvila Ebolowa 2e Sud Mvila Efoulan Sud Mvila Mengong Sud Mvila Ngoulemakong Sud Océan Akom 2 Sud Océan Bipindi Sud Océan Campo Sud Océan Lokoundje Sud Océan Lolodorf Sud Océan Mvengue Sud Océan Niete Sud Vallée du Ntem Ambam Sud Vallée du Ntem Kye Ossi Sud Vallée du Ntem Maan Sud Vallée du Ntem Olamze CM13: DENSE FOREST OF THE SOUTH-EAST: cassava, plantain, corms, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, wild foods, smallstock, poultry Famine Early Warning Systems Network 58 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Est Boumba et Ngoko Gari Gombo Est Boumba et Ngoko Moloundou Est Boumba et Ngoko Salapoumbe Est Boumba et Ngoko Yokadouma Est Haut Nyong Dja Est Haut Nyong Doumaintang Est Haut Nyong Lomie Est Haut Nyong Messok Est Haut Nyong Ngoyla 521,276 people Est Haut Nyong Somalomo 60.5 people per km2 Est Kadey Mbang

Est Kadey Ndelele Sud Dja et Lobo Bengbis Sud Dja et Lobo Djoum Sud Dja et Lobo Meyomessi Sud Dja et Lobo Mintom Sud Dja et Lobo Oveng Sud Dja et Lobo Sangmelima Sud Mvila Biwong Bulu Sud Mvila Mvangane CM14: LOM-PANGAR GRASSY SAVANNAH: cattle, cassava, maize, groundnuts, fishing, artisanal mining Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Adamaoua Djérem Ngaoundal Adamaoua Mbéré Dir Adamaoua Mbéré Djohong Adamaoua Mbéré Ngaoui 740,062 people 14.6 people per km2 Est Kadey Batouri

Est Kadey Bombe Est Kadey Kette Est Kadey Mbotoro Est Lom et Djérem Betare Oya Est Lom et Djérem Garoua Boulai Est Lom et Djérem Mandjou Est Lom et Djérem Ngoura CM15: COASTAL: artisanal sea-fishing, shrimps, informal cross-border trade, gnetum, palm oil, fresh and processed cassava, coconuts Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Littoral Sanaga Maritime Mouanko Littoral Wouri Douala 1er 307,907 people Littoral Wouri Douala 2e 70.2 people per km2 Littoral Wouri Douala 6e Sud Océan Kribi 1er Famine Early Warning Systems Network 59 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Sud Océan Kribi 2e Sud-Ouest Fako Limbe 1st Sud-Ouest Fako Limbe 2nd Sud-Ouest Fako Limbe 3rd Sud-Ouest Fako West Coast Sud-Ouest Ndian Bamusso Sud-Ouest Ndian Idabato Sud-Ouest Ndian Isangele Sud-Ouest Ndian Kombo Abedimo Sud-Ouest Ndian Kombo Itindi CM16: WESTERN CROSS-BORDER TRADE: tapioca, palm oil, tomatoes, rice, cocoa, cattle, gnétum leaves and other wild forest products Region Departments Districts Estimated Population and density Nord-Ouest Menchum Fungom Nord-Ouest Menchum Furu Awa 292,575 people Nord-Ouest Menchum Menchum Valley 29.2 people per km2 Sud-Ouest Manyu Akwaya Sud-Ouest Manyu Eyumodjock

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 60 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019 Annex 3. Comparing Cameroon's livelihood zones with those across the borders of neighboring countries Cameroon has frontiers with six countries: Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo (Congo- Brazzaville), Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Of these, the first three have been mapped for livelihood zones by FEWS NET, and Congo-Brazzaville has been mapped very recently by WFP, while as far as we know, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have yet to be zoned in this way. It may be of interest to see how far the Cameroon livelihood zones correspond to zones defined across its borders. However, it is necessary to offer first a caveat. Livelihood zoning is carried out separately in separate countries, to represent the local reference data and above all the knowledge and judgement of expert, local key informants. They are not asked to match zones already distinguished across frontiers (although the relevant country maps are shown to them for their information and interest). There are two reasons for this. One is the wish to avoid any pressure on them, actual or perceived, to follow the decisions of another exercise in another country; admittedly this does not seem a large danger, since key informants have been universally firm in their local knowledge and in their expression of it. Secondly, livelihoods zoning is always a shared exercise with national partners, in the present case especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and it is axiomatic that the level of detail in the zoning – and therefore the number of zones identified in the end – depends on the practical use to which the map is expected to be put, whether for monitoring events for early warning purposes, or for other analyses. It is fair to say that, given localized variations anywhere, it would always be possible to come up with more zones: the balance that always needs to be stuck is between the basic ecological and economic realities on the ground and the number of divisions – zones – that can effectively be used. But it is also fair to say that mostly, the level of zoning between one country and another is not so greatly different that no comparison can be made. In that spirit, let us see how Cameroon 'fits' with its neighbors.

CM01 - RIVER LOGONE FLOOD PLAIN: cattle, goats and sheep, fishing, irrigated rice, maize, sorghum, cross-border trade

To the east, this zone actually fits not with the Chad Central agropastoral zone TD05 that extends east from just across the Logone/Chari river, but with TD08 Western agropastoral and fishing further to the north-east, which is effectively Chad's flood-plain zone, with similar on- and off-season agriculture and fishing. Facing west, CM01 straddles two Nigerian zones: NG08 – Lake Chad fishing, maize, wheat, cowpeas and vegetables, and going south, NG09 – Chad Basin: masakwa flood-recession sorghum, and wheat. (As we shall see, in Cameroon flood-recession sorghum is best represented by zone CM03). All of these zones show features of the Chad Basin in different mixes.

CM02 'DUCK'S BEAK': cotton, pigs, poultry, cattle, rainfed sorghum, pulses

There is not a direct 'fit' with Chad here. We can say that fishing in the Logone river is important for nearby villages on either side of the frontier. Apart from that, CM02 is more or less out of the Chad Basin flood plain, although there are some swamp areas. On the Chad side there are TD03 – Southwest cereals extending far to the east and referring essentially to a different ecology, and TD02 – Southwest rice, which is based partly on a flood-plain off the Logone river, partly on more and less developed irrigation. The key crop here is rice, whether irrigated, or using flood- moistened soils, and/or solely rainfed. But while this looks different from the Cameroon side, there is a shared fact that must be significant even if at present we cannot say quite how: CM02 is one of Cameroon's densest areas of rural population; TD02 is the densest area of rural population in Chad.

CM03 PIEDMONT: surplus off-season sorghum, market gardening, livestock, trade

This zone borders neither Chad nor Nigeria. But we include it to mention that in terms of very high production of a special dry season sorghum, it matches Nigeria's zone NG09. However, in CM02 the main waters come not from the Chad Basin floodplain but from run-off of the Mandara Mountains. The transplanting method is shared, and the type of sorghum is the same, with similar local names: muskwari in Cameroon, masakwa in Nigeria, while in an extensive zone TD04 far away in the south-east of Chad, with water run-off from another highland ridge, the same sorghum is produced, here called berbéré.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 61 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

CM04 MANDARA MOUNTAINS: potatoes, onions, garlic, maize, soya, tubers, cross-border trade

This is a zone unto itself: the Mandara Mountains ridge forms a border with Nigeria but does not extend significantly into Nigeria. On the other hand, for Nigeria, a zone only a few kilometers wide was defined along almost the length of the north-eastern frontier: NG34 – North-east cattle, small ruminants, and food crops with cross-border livestock trade. This mainly highland zone more than anything denotes a trade transit area, where the sparse population profits from mediating especially the livestock trade. Since for Cameroon only one, much shorter but wider zone CM16 is defined essentially as a cross-border trade zone, for the rest of this account we will look across this strip of Nigeria to the zones that lie beyond.

CM05 BENUE PLAIN: groundnuts, cotton, maize, irrigated rice, onions, cattle, fishing

This zone sits opposite Nigeria's zone NG14 – Central sorghum, maize, groundnuts, cowpeas and sesame. The Nigerian zone is very extensive, reaching far west into the country. The two zones show some match in two of their principal crops: maize and groundnuts. But as a surplus maize producer for Cameroon, CM05 has more in common with the Nigerian zone a little more to the north: NG15 – North-east maize dominant with rice, cowpeas, soybeans and groundnuts. (In the Nigerian zone in recent years there has been substantial government and agency support for the expansion of maize production, partly in answer to the losses in sorghum production further north caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.)

CM06 FARO-MAYO REY LOWLANDS: maize, yams, cotton, soya, groundnuts

There is a clear mirroring here with the Nigerian zone NG20 – Central yams and maize belt, with cassava, rice and soybeans: both zones span the transition from maize to yams as an important staple too. The Nigerian zone is vast and stretches far west into the country; the Cameroon zone is also one of the largest in the country and stretches across to the border with Chad and to a smaller extent CAR. On the Chad side the 'corresponding' zone is TD01 – Southern staple and cash crops: this rather cryptic title covers mainly sorghum as the staple, with only a little maize, plus the only significant cassava and sweet potato production in Chad, plus what remains of the cotton production that used to define the zone before the fall in international prices more than a decade ago. In sum, the mirror here with Cameroon is of a transitional zone where tuber crops – although not yams – make their appearance. The CAR zone CF08 – Northern cotton, cassava and sorghum equally mirrors the transition to tubers crops.

CM07 ADAMAWA HIGH PLATEAUX: cattle, maize, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, beans, honey

The nearest Nigerian zone lies across a substantial National Park, and we arrive in a different ecology to Adamawa, something of a niche area for cocoa: NG24 – Cocoa dominant, with oil palm, cereals and tubers, this being the biggest producer of cocoa in south-eastern Nigeria.

CM08 TIKAR PLAIN: maize, irrigated rice, robusta coffee, fishing and livestock

This zone borders two Nigerian zones: NG24 – Cocoa dominant, with oil palm, cereals and tubers, and NG25 – Mambila highland: cattle, maize, Irish potatoes, tea, coffee and kola nut. The Tikar Plain does not reflect the two Nigerian niche ecologies, one for cocoa and the other for high elevation crops, including potatoes and arabica coffee. Nevertheless, CM08 is something of a niche area in its own right, with robusta coffee as its chief cash crop.

CM10 MOUNT CAMEROON FOREST: cocoa, palm oil, robusta coffee, rubber, plantain, tubers, pepper, snails

The short border between the far west of this extensive zone and Nigeria mainly runs through extensive nature reserves on both sides. What remains of the border is with the far eastern tip of Nigerian zone NG27 – South-east rice dominant with cassava, yams and oil palm. Even if similarities may stretch a little way across the border, in general there could be no greater contrast than that between this most densely-populated and urbanized part of Nigeria and the sparsely populated, dense-forest economy of CM10.

CM13 DENSE FOREST OF THE SOUTH-EAST: cassava, plantain, macabo corms, cocoa, robusta coffee, palm oil, forest wild foods, smallstock, poultry, game

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 62 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Across the Congo border, CG01 – Dense forest of the north: cocoa, fruit trees, wild forest products, plantain, cassava is a clear mirror of CM13. To the east the forest continues into CAR: zone CF11 – Southwest cassava, coffee, gathering, and mining; however the CAR zone includes some more highly populated areas similar to the Cameroonian degraded forest zone CM12, and at the same time artisanal gold and diamond mining is a special activity – more reflected on the Cameroon side in zone CM14, just to the north, which is next on our list.

CM14 LOM-PANGAR GRASSY SAVANNAH: cattle, cassava, maize, groundnuts, fishing, artisanal mining

Apart from the artisanal mining comparison just made, this zone mainly lies across from the CAR zone CF09 – Western cassava, maize and peanuts. The similarities between the zones are evident in their names. But on the CAR side the savannah is more wooded, and there are some mountains too, and the population is denser in places, and the agricultural economy is possibly more dynamic – including food exports from CAR into this part of Cameroon.

CM15 COASTAL: artisanal sea-fishing, shrimps, informal cross-border trade, forest gnetum leaves, palm oil, fresh and processed cassava, coconuts

The coastal ecology and economy continue west into Nigeria: zone NG32 – coastal strip and Niger Delta: fishing, cassava, plantain, oil palm and rubber. However, the Nigerian zone has many separate characteristics, including mangroves reaching far inland along delta waterways, inland fishing, the environmental effects of the comparatively great petroleum production, and the presence of very big cities beyond the zone's rainforest hinterland.

CM16 WESTERN CROSS-BORDER TRADE: tapioca, palm oil, tomatoes, rice, cocoa, cattle, gnetum leaves and other wild forest products

Given that this zone is defined by its dependence on trade with Nigeria, and not by any dominant ecology and production between its highlands and lowlands, it is almost surprising that in production terms it does correspond with the main Nigerian zone opposite: NG26 – Cross river cocoa with palm oil, tubers, rice and plantain.

Map 1. Nigeria Livelihood Zones (2018)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 63 Cameroon Livelihood Zone Map and Descriptions November 2019

Map 2. Central Africa Republic Livelihood Zones (2012)

Source: FEWS NET. Map 3. Chad Livelihood Zones (2011)

Source: FEWS NET.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 64